Vviewpoints
DOI: 10.1145/1897852.1897867
viewpoint
Computer and information
Science and engineering:
One Discipline, Many Specialties

Mathematics is no longer the only foundation for computing
and information research and education in academia.

DuRing the laSt 60 years we have seen the beginning of a major technological revolution, the Information Revolution. IT has spanned large new economic sectors and has, over a long period, doubled the rate of increase in labor productivity in the U.S. 1, 16 Over two-thirds of job openings in science and engineering in the coming decade are in IT. 12 Intellectual property, rather than physical assets, has become the main means of production: control over intangibles (such as patents and copyrights) are at the forefront of the national and international business agenda; 6, 23 investment by industry in intangible assets has overtaken investment in tangible means of production. 7, 19

The information revolution is far from having run its course: “ machine-thought” has not yet replaced “ brain-thought,” to the extent that “ machine-made” has replaced “hand-made.” One can be confident that the use of digital technologies will continue to spread; that more and more workers will move from the physical economy to the information economy; and that people will spend more and more of their work and leisure time creating, manipulating, and communicating information.

The fast evolution of IT motivates a periodic reexamination and reorganization of computing and information

the fast evolution
of it motivates
a periodic
reexamination
and reorganization
of computing and
information (c&i)
research and
education in academia.

(C&I) research and education in academia. We seem to be in one such period. Many universities have established or expanded schools and programs that integrate a broad range of subdisciplines in C&I; and NSF is affecting the scope of research and education in C&I through the creation of programs such as the Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI) and Pathways to Revitalized Undergraduate Computing Education (CPATH) programs. 21, 22

I strongly believe that C&I is one broad
discipline, with strong interactions be-
tween its various components. A coher-
ent view of the whole must precede any
discussion of the best ways of dividing
it into subdisciplines. The dominant
discourse in our community should
be about building a coherent view of
the broad discipline, building bridges
between its constituents, and build-
ing bridges to other disciplines as we
engage in interdisciplinary research.
I hope this column will contribute to
these goals.

c&i is a use-Driven
Research Discipline

I am discussing in this column the broad field of Computing and Information Science and Engineering (CISE): the study of the design and use of digital systems that support storing, processing, accessing and communicating information. To prevent possibly misleading connotations, I shall call this broad field Computing and Information (C&I).

We still seem to be debating whether computer science is science, engineering, or something unlike any other academic discipline (see, for example9, 11). The debate is often rooted in a linear view of science and engineering: Scientists seek knowledge, for knowledge sake; through a mysterious process, this knowledge turns out to have practical consequences and is picked up by applied scientists, next engineers, and then used to develop better technologies. This view encourages an implicit value system whereby science is seen a higher call than engineering.