Disciplinary representation on institutional websites: changing knowledge, changing power?

Abstract

This paper analyses shifts in the representation of history and physics as named organisational units on Australian university websites over the last 15 years in the context of broader questions about the production of knowledge in contemporary times. It derives from a broader project concerned with disciplinarity, changing university contexts and emerging conceptions of teaching and research. The paper points to a significant reduction in the number of departments and departmental webpages dedicated solely to those disciplines and the greater obscurity of disciplinary knowledge on the websites as a result. It suggests these findings are one symbolic sign of some changes in progress in universities, including a reduced strength of disciplinary voice in broader university management, some shift away from disciplines as the key reference points for knowledge production and some de-centring of their traditional strength in the academic labour market. The study also points to the methodological challenges of working with online sources of evidence.