The i-

Like any good language pedant, I find show biz/advertising/business management are sore areas of linguistic abuse. Those in the latter tend to make up words or use excessive words in a poor attempt to sound professional. And those in the former tend to revert to French pronunciation for sufficiently anglicized words. Or they'll just make stuff up, like saying "P.S." when they mean "by the way".

But usually, there's some logic to it. "Longer is more formal than shorter" is a general rule that usually works, even if it sometimes results in tautologies (e.g. "irregardless," "as per your instructions," &c.) So, when Apple Inc came out with their line of products all headed with an i-, I thought that was a trademarked term, relating to the internet.

But in my research for graduate school, I came across the "iSchool" for MLS in a certain University in Canada. My first instincts were to treat that as a sort of virtual school; ie, one online. From the photos and course locations, one can infer that the iSchool is a brand, but that the program itself is nowhere virtual, and is in fact on campus. But how does a program website that purportedly sells the idea that they can teach how information is packaged and organised, fail to address the glaring semantic puzzle that all first-time visitors would confront?