Fizz in the Field: Toward a Basis for an Emergent Internet Studies

This article examines the history and future prospects of the formation of Internet studies. It is argued that although a traditional field or disciplinary structure is not yet in place, the current interdisciplinary aggregations may have the makings of institutionalized academic units. Through comparison with the institutionalization of other interdisiciplinary areas of study (primarily that of communication and cultural studies), an argument is made for the need to create a firm intellectual foundation on which an Internet/studies can be built. Such a foundation should not only include sufficient and clear understanding of cognate fields but also include a foregrounding of power (as theoretical construct and practice) as a means of engaging the field in the world.

Keywords:

• academia
• institutionalization
• interdisciplinarity
• Internet research
• Internet studies

The author wishes to thank anonymous reviewers for very helpful suggestions.

Notes

1. I consider these to be two separate things, namely, that scholars can consider themselves part of Internet studies even if there is no acknowledgment or existence of a field.

2. See, for example, Carolyn Marvin's When Old Technologies Were New (1988) and the work of James W. Carey (1989), particularly on the telegraph's impact in the United States, and Brian Winston's Media Technology and Society (1998).