University of Washington - Information School

Information schools are interested in the relationship between information, technology, and people. Graduates of information schools use their expertise for the advancement of science, business, education, and culture. This expertise is gained through the iSchool movement's investigation of the uses and users of information, as well as information technologies and their applications.

In practice, this information orientation provides a focus on the organizational and social issues related to the ways people create, store, find, manipulate and share information. Graduates of information schools are adept at designing, refining and building information systems. They are attuned to the needs that drive people to seek information.

They are concerned with issues like access, privacy and usability. And they understand the increasingly complex social and organizational environments in which people seek to fill their information needs — in theoretical, virtual and physical spaces. They are ambassadors for the transformative power of information when applied ethically and effectively.