During my "hunt" for a reputable school and a great program to pursue my PhD, I came across Penn State and Information Sciences and Technology school in particular during a conference exhibition. I gave it good consideration based on the school's reputation and the quality of publications. When I received acceptance from Penn State followed by four other reputable universities (all from the Colleges of Business), My homework to find out more about I-schools and make the right decision started. For three month, I began a journey of collecting, analyzing, comparing and contrasting data from both camps. I approached few friends and University professors who would shed more lights. The findings of my "interviews" were quiet interesting but the most surprising was the support of some of my business professors toward this inevitable and necessary move of collaborations of expertise that constitute the foundation of the I-model.
Information Schools or I-Schools have recently been formed integrating several and diverse fields such as Computer Sciences, Psychology, Law, Library Sciences, MIS, Human computer Interactions and others. While traditional fields and colleges do not communicate and collaborate with each other, I-Schools on the contrary are based on integration and a model of collaboration that is centered on Information, Technology and People. All I-schools embrace different variations of this model nonetheless they all focus on the interdisciplinary nature of their research. Different weights and focuses give each school a unique "flavor". Some I-schools are truly more interdisciplinary such as Penn State, Others have the Library of Science, Computer Science or Education flavor embedded.
After the huge endorsement from my professors and a perfect match of my research aspirations in security and healthcare within IST, the final decision was obvious and inevitable...and that's how I made to Penn State...How I actually made it literally from Florida to State College, PA is another long blog where I got lost in the mountains for two hours with deers staring at me ... Did I forget to say I was using my GPS!!!
Resources:
http://www.ischools.org/oc/index.html
http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Apr-06/index.html
Zhang, P., Benjamin, R., Understanding Information Related Fields: A Conceptual Framework
Sawyer, S. "I-Schools:Mice Roaring or is the ffuture Now Arriving?"
Rachida, your blog entry was very nice. It is interesting to me to see the research done by others to get to a place that I have taken advantage of because I live here. I hope that you continue to be reassured that you've come to the right place. I am certainly glad you are here!
-Michelle