Introduction:
This is the report of a “Workshop on Statistics and Information Technology” held on November 11-12, 1999 (Hurricane Floyd forced a postponement from the originally scheduled dates of September 16–17, 1999), at the NISS building in Research Triangle Park, NC. The purpose of the workshop was to expose statisticians to researchers and research problems in information technology (IT). The format was to present five important problem areas in IT from the perspectives of both IT and statistics, coupled with ample opportunity for questions and discussion.
The workshop responded, as does the Information Technology Research (ITR) program of the NSF, to the 1999 report of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Council (PITAC). The PITAC report, available on-line at www.ccic.gov/ac/report/, pointedly notes that the future of our society depends heavily on IT. That the transformations to individual lives and society brought about by IT will be timely and effective is, however, not certain. Indeed, the report presents a compelling case that economic and social benefits of IT cannot be realized without massive, continuing investment in IT research and development.
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