As a relatively straightforward example, consider an iSchool’s approach to information assurance, an issue of contemporary salience, for which we seek to produce strong results while adapting to changing conditions. When viewed as a technological issue, scientists and engineers are likely to focus on topics such as cryptography, steganography, public key infrastructure, and intrusion detection, or, in other words, technical areas in which they are likely to have significant interest and expertise. The same set of issues viewed from the perspective of librarians may be more likely to draw attention to questions of identification, authentication, provenance, and access. A social scientist, on the other hand, may focus on issues of confidentiality, authentication, privacy, and integrity. So who is right? Clearly, they all are. Information assurance is a multidisciplinary problem with extraordinarily complex and interrelated technical, policy, and social challenges. An iSchool provides the venue that enables scholars from a variety of contributing disciplines to leverage their individual insights, perspectives, and interests, informed by a rich, “trans-disciplinary” community.
But trans-disciplinary collaboration is not a natural act. Not only does each discipline bring to the table a set of values, goals, models, economics, and ethics that have evolved slowly and in relative isolation over an extended period of time within their discipline, but also they must interact with and respond to the interests of external bodies. These are not always aligned in ways that foster rapid agreement.
- Values – some will argue that strength is derived from information access, while others contend that power is founded on information control.
- Goals – some argue for increasing safety and security by way of imposing limits and locks, while others opine that justice and accountability are advanced through dialogue and debate.
- Models – some see information access primarily as a societal responsibility, where others view it dominantly as a business opportunity.
- Economics – information is expensive to create and publish, but cheap to replicate and distribute.
- Ethics – some argue that ethics are trumped by the realities of the real world, while others rebut that they are motivated by that very same world.
The complex interaction among the disciplines, when allowed to play out in an iSchool, provides a rich environment for the education of information professionals. Exploiting the very tensions that arise among the various constituencies enriches the creative insight of each. Among the issues feeding such creative dialogue are topics such as:
- Intellectual property rights and its relation to fair use;
- Open, extensible systems as an alternative to proprietary, closed designs;
- Access to publicly-funded information balanced against legitimate security requirements;
- Assuring ethical public policy when the need for expediency feels overwhelming; and
- Recognizing the need for both selective government secrecy and accountability through open records.
While the resolution of these issues is ultimately expressed in society’s evolving social contract, the iSchools serve a vital role by:
- Preparing the next generation of information professionals;
- Informing the relevant social and political structures regarding the implications and use of information technologies;
- Assuring that debates surrounding the development of policy and law are properly informed by sound scholarship;
- Advising society of the potential consequences of policy alternatives;
- Interpreting opportunities and implications of policy alternatives; and
- Remaining, themselves, engaged students of a highly dynamic landscape of change.
So what is an iSchool in the 21st century? Informed by decades of debate and responding to exceptionally rapid changes in technology and uncertainty in public policy, iSchools foster the development of an intellectual space where true interdisciplinarity plays out. In so doing, they introduce a range of challenges to traditional university structures and practices regarding organizational boundaries, promotion and tenure policies, doctoral education, research legitimacy, etc., as they create an environment where issues of information are addressed systematically, regardless of disciplinary heritage or presumed 'ownership'. In this way, iSchools respond to the salient issues of the time by stressing the production of strong results. They are in a constant state of adaptation within their core competencies, while building necessary bridges among disciplines. The iSchools recognize that the near-term future will be shaped largely by industry, so their applied research agenda is strongly influenced by these emerging needs and directions. But the iSchools lead industry and government in the study of timeless, recurring, theoretical questions, and educate the next generation of information professionals who will shape the future of a global information society.