We spend our days consuming and sharing information — whenever we open an app, start a car or click on an article. Libraries and museums are repositories of information. So are smartphones and computers. We live in a society that is increasingly shaped by the exchange of digital information. 

“More and more, the ability to understand information and shape it and construct it in interesting and useful ways defines who we are as a people,” says Cliff Lampe, professor of information and associate dean for academic affairs. “And as such, information has come to affect everything from our entertainment lives, to our democratic lives, to how we live in our cities, to our jobs, our health.”

Information science is an interdisciplinary field that considers how information is created, stored, accessed and used. It draws upon aspects of computer science and library science while incorporating considerations from disciplines like psychology and ethics. 

An information degree is ideal for anyone interested in exploring how technology can be used to create digital solutions that improve lives. For example, a student of user experience design will learn how to design interfaces, apps and web pages that center the user, allowing people to access information. A student focusing on information analysis will become a wrangler and interpreter of data. They’ll learn to sift through the mess of information and explain it to others, sometimes speaking the language of multiple industries.

Assistant professor Robin Brewer acknowledges, “[Information] is very broad. I understand it’s one of those terms. But I think that’s one of the benefits — that information touches everything. Information is so pervasive, so you can kind of craft it to be what you want it to be.” 

Brewer says information science is a great fit for someone who doesn’t want to commit to just one discipline. “You may be interested in the technical side of something,” she says, “but you may also have some questions about how people use it and the social side of things.”

For example, Brewer’s research focuses in part on making voice technologies more accessible for older adults and people with vision impairments, in order to improve their decision making. 

Why should a student who is interested in business, psychology, political science or medicine consider getting a degree in information science? Lampe says that students’ interests might change over the course of their careers, but their core knowledge of information science will remain relevant, allowing them to translate those skills to multiple industries — including business, automotive, health care, education and government. 

“Information is a modern gold rush, and the School of Information is selling pans,” Lampe says. “We’re not after the gold. We want to help everybody else to get the gold.” 

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