On Computing

Computing is not simply about hardware or software, or calculation or
applications. Computing, writes Paul Rosenbloom, is an exciting and diverse, yet
remarkably coherent, scientific enterprise that is highly multidisciplinary yet
maintains a unique core of its own. In On Computing, Rosenbloom
proposes that computing is a great scientific domain on a par with the physical,
life, and social sciences.

Rosenbloom introduces a relational
approach for understanding computing, conceptualizing it in terms of forms of
interaction and implementation, to reveal the hidden structures and connections
among its disciplines. He argues for the continuing vitality of computing, surveying
the leading edge in computing's combination with other domains, from biocomputing
and brain-computer interfaces to crowdsourcing and virtual humans to robots and the
intermingling of the real and the virtual. He explores forms of higher order
coherence, or macrostructures, over complex computing topics and organizations.
Finally, he examines the very notion of a great scientific domain in philosophical
terms, honing his argument that computing should be considered the fourth great
scientific domain.

With On Computing,
Rosenbloom, a key architect of the founding of University of Southern California's
Institute for Creative Technologies and former Deputy Director of USC's Information
Sciences Institute, offers a broader perspective on what computing is and what it
can become.