Founded in 1999, the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) is an learned society

Learned society

A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline/profession, as well a group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies,...

 dedicated to the advancement of the transdisciplinary field of Internet studies

Internet studies

Internet Studies is an interdisciplinary field studying the social, psychological, pedagogical, political, technical, cultural, artistic, and other dimensions of the internet and associated information and communication technologies. While studies of the internet are now widespread across academic...

. It is an international, member-based support network promoting critical and scholarly Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 research, independent from traditional disciplines and existing across academic borders.

AoIR was formally founded on May 30, 1999, at a meeting of nearly sixty scholars at the San Francisco Hilton and Towers, following initial discussions at a 1998 conference at Drake University entitled "The World Wide Web and Contemporary Cultural Theory: Metaphor, Magic & Power." As the Chronicle of Higher Education noted, its rapid growth during the first few years of its existence marked the coming of age of Internet studies

Internet studies

Internet Studies is an interdisciplinary field studying the social, psychological, pedagogical, political, technical, cultural, artistic, and other dimensions of the internet and associated information and communication technologies. While studies of the internet are now widespread across academic...

.