Science as social construction: an inter-epistemological dialogue between two internet scientists on the inter-epistemological structure of internet science, part 1.

This paper is structured as an informal dialogue between two members of the EINS (www.internet-science.eu) Network of excellence: a sociologist (Laura Sartori) and an engineer (Paolo Dini). The deck is stacked since the engineer also taught physics for a number of years, has been studying social and economic theory for the past 10 years, and is also currently active in mathematical and theoretical computer science research. The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of the epistemological bases of different disciplinary perspectives as a first step towards developing a methodology of analysis of the Internet as a scientific object of study. To complement well established areas of Internet Science such as networking and information theory, the paper regards three areas of social science as particularly important: social constructivism, power and knowledge, and domains of value. Of these, we focus on the first and only touch on the other two. The paper builds on previous research which concluded that it is impossible to develop a unified interdisciplinary theoretical framework due to irreconcilable epistemological differences, but that it is possible and very worthwhile for those adhering to various disciplinary perspectives to collaborate towards the achievement of a practical joint endeavour. In our view the Internet exemplifies the ultimate example of such an endeavour.