What is IST?

I never thought of the existence of a college, with more than 30 faculties and several hundred students, not having departments. The first thing that would come to one's mind is luck of structure. Is that a good or a bad thing?  But I concur with Heidi' position about human's being used to organization and taxonomies.  Within IST there is a subtle structure based on tracks that allows student to "specialize" in certain research area without being "locked" in a particular one. however, just like Miao, I agree that there should be a little more guidance for undergraduate students who are still trying to define where they belong and may get lost in the variety of choices and flexibility.

You can tell that I spend some time reading other's blog and I actually found Nick's blog about the flavor and history of IST very informative. I knew that IST, unlike some other i-school, started from scratch with no influence from the library of science or computer science but I definitely enjoy the background and history surrounding its formation through Nick's Blog. A quick look at the IST website through the matrix research area of our faculty give a comprehensive overview of the interdisciplinary flavor  in this school.

With an MIS background, IST seemed to me like to the logical continuation and a step up to more technical need while still keeping my ties to people and organization. I am a member of the security lab where our focus is on e-healthcare issues and RFID. What draws me to this area is my industry experience in healthcare within the department of Defense. My interest is not purely a technical but also with a business and a social aspect that I the center seem embracing.