University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

iSchool Academic Structures as Boundary Objects to Inform the Interdisciplinary State of the Information Field

Corieri, Susan B.; Corieri, Isabella

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/122817

Description

Title
iSchool Academic Structures as Boundary Objects to Inform the Interdisciplinary State of the Information Field
Author(s)
  • Corieri, Susan B.
  • Corieri, Isabella
Issue Date
2024-03-20
Keyword(s)
  • Academic Structures
  • Boundary Object
  • Interdisciplinarity
  • iSchool
Abstract
This study uses term frequency to examine the names of the current 48 iSchools in the United States in 2005 and 2023. The academic hierarchical placement of the iSchool and the words or terms in iSchool names and the departments, schools, or colleges in which the iSchool resides, serve as boundary objects, and provide evidence of the evolution of interdisciplinarity. Of the 35 iSchools at the primary level in 2005, only 27 remained at the primary level of their institution in 2023, representing a decrease of 22.9%. Terms in the names of academic units in which iSchools reside changed significantly with a growth of 15.1% for ‘education’ and 9.9% for terms related to ‘computing’. These findings provide evidence of changes in boundaries which represent evolutions in interdisciplinarity.
Publisher
iSchools
Series/Report Name or Number
iConference 2024 Proceedings
Type of Resource
Other
Language
eng
Handle URL
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/122817
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2024 is held by Susan B. Corieri and Isabella Corieri. Copyright permissions, when appropriate, must be obtained directly from the authors.

Owning Collections

iConference 2024 Posters PRIMARY
Posters presented at the 2024 iConference https://www.ischools.org/iconference