Crossing the Boundaries A multi-disciplinary approach to the Internet Greg Adamson 28 April 2003 RMIT Faculty of Business Business Research Interns Group

The problem... there is almost no middle ground of rational discourse, no available common language which persons of differing backgrounds can discuss matters of technology in thoughtful, critical terms Winner, L. 1978, Autonomous Technology Cambridge, MIT Press

The negatives Institutional interest Supervision Sponsorship of research opportunities Publication opportunity Examination Employment

The positives

Origins of multi-disciplinary study Meta-disciplines –eg geospatial studies Extending a core discipline –Following the evidence –Written for the original audience

The benefits Overcoming some blocks –Multiple starting points –Multiple approaches to an event –Common levels of abstraction across disciplines Avoiding tunnel vision Opportunities in the ‘boundary regions’

Using common techniques Chronological –‘The developments of the 1980s’ Event based –‘What happened in 1995’ Role based –Comparing Internet e-business to fax, EDI

Questions