There is a nice write-up in the IU Alumni Association magazine about the IU School of Informatics. The article gives a nice historical overview of how the program came to exist and talks about the transition.
I particularly liked this tidbit from Dennis: “The year we started the program was the year 2000, when the whole thing burst. So the impetus to create it was exactly at the right time, and yet we created it at a time when jobs went away.” I think it is safe to say that the jobs are coming back. It should become easier and easier for our graduates to get quality and substantive positions.
Our outgoing dean, Mike Dunn, said in the article that “his favorite definition of informatics appears in the form of a Wikipedia entry:”
Informatics studies the structure, behavior, and interactions of natural and artificial systems that store, process, and communicate information. It also develops its own conceptual and theoretical foundations. Since computers, individuals, and organizations all process information, informatics has computational, cognitive, and social aspects.
Since it is Wikipedia and I thought it a major omission, I added “impact” to the definition. I think that is something IU does better than other programs—include the consequence of technology as part of the understanding of its value.
I think it is important that when the new dean arrives this summer, he is greeted with a stack of position papers from various groups within our Informatics community. That should definitely include formal opinions representing Ph.D., HCI, and International students, as well as organizations such as GISA and WIC. The first reports Dean Schnabel reads should be from a student perspective. Anyone interested in putting together such documents, count me in.