The use of electronic communication technology by doctoral students in four different disciplines (molecular biology, literary theory, sociology, and computer science) is explored. The paper is based on research performed in 1995 by the author as part of her doctoral thesis. She conducted in-depth interviews with 28 doctoral students in the advanced stages of their dissertation work, 21 of their faculty advisers, and other research faculty.

Covi outlines the similarities and differences in how and why these doctoral students used the technology. As one might expect, the disciplines with better funding (and larger labs) provided a collaborative environment and a social context for exploring the use of the technologies. Students in literary theory and sociology did not have similar opportunities, so were often left to their own devices to use the technology. Moreover, this was often done from home, since many were neither funded nor had sufficient resources in their offices.

An observation that I found of particular interest is “Perhaps the successor of the Nintendo generation myth might be stated as: the myth of the Cyberspace generation should be told as a story of how perceived parental duty drove technological innovation” (p. 1293)

While the conclusion that electronic communication technologies have changed and will continue to change the way doctoral students work is not surprising, the author provides an interesting picture of how the changes take place in different environments. Of course, it might be even more interesting to revisit these issues six years later.