[Air-L] Fwd: danah's response - Graduate programs for Internetstudies

[Matthew Allen]

It's nice to have a good debate on air-l concerning matters which are
really important to the future health of research into the Internet and
related technologies. As I said at the 10th anniversary of AoIR in
Milwaukee: the thing that makes me most proud is to see some many
outstanding doctoral students at the conference, and people who have
completed their doctorates and are returning.

Two additional thoughts:

First, the discussion so far has been very north American in its focus
(it's ok - the majority of members are probably from that part of the
world). Let's remember conditions are different in different countries -
PhDs in Australia and the UK don't follow the same rules or patterns of
activity, nor are European doctorates the same. Still, the advice from
various people is good - think about funding; think about the social /
informal learning quality of the place you go; think about the degree to
which your intended supervisors value your perspectives and give you
methodological and topical freedom rather than fitting you into their
preferred approach.

Second, let's turn this around: many of us on the list are, or will,
supervise (trans. = advise) doctoral students. Collectively,
Internet-oriented researchers, regardless of their discipline, should be
very careful about the power relations of supervisor and student and
consciously affirm the respect and care for students which is necessary
for successful completion. Imagine the future - don't recreate the past.

Professor Matthew Allen
Head, Department of Internet Studies
School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts
Curtin University of Technology
CRICOS provider code: 00301J (WA); 02637B (NSW)
+61892663511 http://netstudies.curtin.edu.au and http://netcrit.net
2008 ALTC Teaching Fellow
Life Member, Association of Internet Researchers