[Air-L] Devin, et al

[Brabham, Daren C]

I would agree with Prof. Wellman on this point. As much as I'd love to see Internet studies become part of the typical catalog at most universities, the reality right now is that it isn't. You're much more likely to be hired as a professor in one of the more established disciplines than in an Internet studies program. Even communication departments don't exist on every campus.

Also, if you do a Ph.D. in a more established discipline (e.g., communication) and gear your research toward Internet studies, you'll still need to be able to teach Intro. to Mass Communication, Intro. to Newswriting, etc. The more established departments seem far more likely to hire someone who can teach the introductory courses or the production courses *in addition* to special topics courses on new media. You just don't get hired by these departments very often with a mandate to teach only Internet studies courses.

db

---
Daren C. Brabham, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
School of Journalism & Mass Communication
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Carroll Hall, CB 3365
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
(919) 962-0676 (office)
(801) 633-4796 (cell)
daren.brabham at unc.edu
www.darenbrabham.com
________________________________________
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org [air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Barry Wellman [wellman at chass.utoronto.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 4:52 PM
To: aoir list
Subject: [Air-L] Devin, et al

There are a number of good (such as OII) and not so good specialists in
Internet studies, but to be a contrarian -- and friends please forgive me
-- I would suggest that you get your PhD in a longer-established
discipline, such as Communications, Information, Sociology, Comp Sci, etc.
-- with a concentation on the Internet as well as at least one other field
within that discipline.

That would improve your ability to get anchored in a discipline, received
more methodological and theoretical training, and get hired afterwards and
get grants to do the kind of research you'd like to.

Of course, there are good people and courses wtihin internet studies, but
I am thinking in probability terms.
  Barry Wellman
  _______________________________________________________________________

   S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC               NetLab Director
   Department of Sociology                  725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388
   University of Toronto   Toronto Canada M5S 2J4   twitter:barrywellman
   http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman             fax:+1-416-978-3963
   Updating history:      http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php
  _______________________________________________________________________

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