On internet studies, instrumentality, institutions, and the liberal arts, a thread:
1/ We often see ppl with studied cluelessness who, ignorant of the existence of the humanistic and social-scientific study of the internet and computers and technology, call for some kind of critical study of the computers and the internet.
2/ Rightfully indignant scholars complain that journalists and university presidents and foundations are ignorant, and rightfully point to the existence of media studies, STS, information studies, and the study of internet stuff in a whole swathe of disciplines.
3/ At the core of these discussions is a conversation about ethics and critical thinking on the part of computer programmers working in SV who are frequently trained in CS departments. "Internet studies" to the rescue.
4/ FWIW, I think that computer science & engineering majors should be made to take real & rigorous critical studies courses taught by faculty with real training in "internet studies" disciplines. I also think CS should reimagine itself to integrate such critical study.
5/ What I was trying to say earlier (but I'm bad at Twitter because loquacious humanist) is that the set of (inter)disciplines that might be called "internet studies" have been overlooked for a reason: they aren't visible because they aren't instrumental in the way at issue here.
6/ Becoming the handmaiden to CS & engineering as a kind of Bildung for SV programmers would fundamentally change the remit and content of internet studies classes. As @DocDre pointed out, non-instrumentality is a feature, not a bug.
7/ I have difficulty imagining that such Bildung would do very much to change outcomes at the level of how our technology functions. We should try it! But let's not lose a sense of our priorities. And we should remember that tech problems are political economy problems.
8/ On "liberal arts": I meant that institutionally to include: anthropology, sociology, linguistics, English, cinema and media studies, and other disciplines that have been studying the internet for decades. Obvi others study the internet. But humanities folks do, too!
9/ All this in the context of a crisis of the humanities, which is very real in many departments & institutions. At present, every discipline is called upon to instrumentalize itself as a way to justify its existence. This is a Bad Thing. theatlantic.com/education/arch…
10/ What I mean to say is that the invisibility of "internet studies" is itself not neutral, and is motivated by institutional imperatives we should be wary of, at the very least. That is not to say we should not argue for such study to be better funded and more visible.
11/ But, internet studies should not, in rightly insisting that it has existed for decades in many disciplines, be very eager at all to instrumentalize itself in the ways that seem to drive these conversations. It would be bad for our scholarship and bad for our students. FIN.
