ASIST (Candy) - Day Four - iSchools
I organized a session called "The iSchools Movement", a panel chaired by Andy Dillon and featuring a bunch of deans and our own Michele - the sole representative of a non-ischool. There was some disagreement about when ischools started, ranging from the mid-1960s to the 70s to a couple of years ago. There was a lot of talk about what makes them different, and the answers tended to focus on interdisciplinarity and broad definitions of information and social change. The ischools aren't a professional organization, nor an accrediting body. They're more like a group of like-minded people from programs that meet certain criteria - must have a doctoral program, must report directly to a chancellor or equivalent, and must pony up $10K. In fact, Simmons is eligible to join, under those criteria. So the question is, what do you get for your money. That question wasn't asked.