Study in An I-School

    On the "I"(Information)-"T"(Technology)-"P"(People) triangle IST presents, I may lie at the highest point of "P" side. This is not because I am good at researching on people or society, but because compared with "P", my knowledge on both "I" and "T" are limited. But this will not last long. As a student in I-school, I have already started my interdisciplinary journey. For the past three weeks of study, I have absorbed a broad knowledge related to information that I never imagined. This is a challenge because I have to conquer one and another hill of technological issues which I'm not familiar with. But this also opens a door for me, telling me how fantastic the technical world. As a I-school student, like everyone else, I will be equipped with a broad knowledge span fromComputer Science, Library Science, Business, Psychology, and Sociology.

    Studying in I-school is also a trend. Before entering IST, I also thought about applying other schools or departments. My interests are broad, media, internet, social psychology, policy, management. I think no single department can combine all these except IST. This is true. In IST, everyone of us, no matter from which background, can see a chance of conducting great research according to our own characteristics. But how about students in other schools? Well, I have met a student from education department. Her research focues on professional training and she is planning to take HCI course in IST because good user design is essential to training software. I have also met students from computer science or other departments who are trying to transfer to IST. Why is that? I think the answer is that we can not just ignore the power of information. As information technology is playing a more and more important role in our lives, pure traditional study of either people or technology became insufficient. The problems we met cannot be addressed from a single disciplinary perspective anymore. Understanding and resolving the new emerging problems require a new lens. This is why I-school emerges.

    So as to me, study in an I-school is a really an adventure. I have to draw new knowledge, strengthen diversity, discard individual disciplinary biases and finally develop a new Information vision. Maybe I-schools are new, and maybe we need a breathing space to better our education designing, I firmly believe the direction is right. Our persuit in I-school can be proved its worth over time.