Naomi S. Baron
In contemporary times, two primary motivations have driven academics to attempt
to form new intellectual disciplines. The first motivation is intrinsic to the
subject matter at issue: either old disciplinary questions need to be examined
in new ways (as in the creation of sociolinguistics out of linguistics and sociology)
or the field itself is novel (for example, computer science). The second motivation
is more political: unlike “areas of inquiry”, “fields of study”,
or “tools of research”, new disciplines (e.g., cognitive science)
often command significant academic real estate and sizable budgets. This essay
considers several case studies in which potential academic disciplines have
emerged – or failed to do so. The author suggests that in their attempts
to determine what formal status they wish their research to hold, Internet scholars
must carefully differentiate between the nature of their intellectual enterprise
and legitimate professional desire for academic turf.