Informatics - Definition and Overview

Information Science or Informatics is the science of information. It is often, though not exclusively, studied as a branch of computer science and information technology and is related to database, ontology and software engineering.

Information science is primarily concerned with the structure, creation, management, storage, retrieval, dissemination and transfer of information. Information science also includes studying the application of information in organizations, on its usage and the interaction between people, organizations and information systems. Within information science attention has been given in recent years to human computer interaction (HCI) and to the ways people generate, use and find information.

Two definitions of Informatics taught in an introductory class at Indiana University Bloomington are "The Art, Science and Human Dimensions of IT" and "The study, application, and social consequences of technology." Informatics focuses on understanding problems and then applying information (and other) technology as needed. In other words, it tackles the problem first rather than technology first, as has been too often done in many areas, such as business and scientific research.

A note on international terminology

The words informatique in French and Informatik in German do not mean the same as the English informatics. Rather, they are much closer to computer science.

See also

• Bioinformatics – Informatics in Biology, especially Genomics
• Cheminformatics – Informatics in Chemistry and Drug Discovery
• Ecoinformatics – Informatics in Ecology and Environmental science
• Neuroinformatics – Informatics in Neuroscience.
• Medical informatics – Informatics in Medicine and Healthcare
• Library and information science – Informatics in Libraries
• Knowledge management – Informatics and Knowledge
• Cognitive science - the mind as an information processing system
• Cognitive psychology - the mind as an information processing system
• Hydroinformatics – Informatics as a tool in resolving water-related problems

External links

• What is Informatics? (http://informatics.indiana.edu/overview/what_is_informatics.asp)
• What does Informatics mean? (http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/informatics.shtml)
• What is Informatics at Edinburgh? (http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/about/vision.html)
• University of Washington's Overview of Informatics (http://www.ischool.washington.edu/programs/informatics/overview.aspx)
• Wikitionary Definition of an Informatician (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Informatician)
• Wikitionary Definition of an Informist (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Informist)