Informatics

A term proposed independently by Walter F. Bauer and Phillipe Dreyfus in March 1962 (cf., Bauer, 1996). The term was supposed to mean "the science of information handling" respectively "the modern science of electronic information processing". The term was made as a combination of "information" and "automation". The term is used with different meanings in different contexts.

"Informatics covers both computer science ("datalogy"), electronic data processing, data transmission and telecommunications. This term has therefore been suggested as a more correct term compared to the often used "electronic data processing". This last term is in principle just a sub-field of information technology. The term "informatics" has not, however, until now been generally accepted (except in French), why the term is only used occasionally in every day language, for example, in the term INFORMATICS MANAGER."  (Döhl, 1991, p. 250, translated by BH).
 

The term informatics is sometimes used synonymously with Information Science (IS). This is, for example, the case in the following definitions:

• "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." (Wikipedia, 2005)

• "Information science, informatics, information processing, IP (the sciences concerned with gathering, manipulating, storing, retrieving, and classifying recorded information) (WordNet 2.0)

• International Féderation for Information and Documentation, FID proposed the following definition: "Informatics is the discipline of science which investigates the structure and properties (not specific content¹) of scientific information, as well as the regularities of scientific information activity, its theory, history, methodology, and organization." (1967 FID News Bull XVII 73/2:). This definition follows Mikhailov, Chernyi & Gilyaresvskii (1969), which was the first textbook used in information science at the Royal School of Library and Information Science in Copenhagen (during the 1970s). Its content reflects what is usually regarded as "information science".

• International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science contains both an article about informatics (Fourman 2003) and an article about information science (Bottle 2003). Both articles seem to define their respective terms the same way, but they do not refer to each other or take notice of the two expressions. It is thus unclear whether the editor and the authors regards these words as synonyms.

Sometimes is "informatics" used as a broader term encompassing both computer science and information science. I may be about scientific information or about information in a broader sense. There are geographic differences in the use of terminology and "informatics" is relatively much used in French-speaking countries.

Generally is the term informatics used in senses that are closer to information technology and computer science than to library and information science (LIS) and there is not much need for this extra term in LIS. An exception is in composed terms such as social informatics and medical informatics.

Literature:

Bauer, W. F. (1996). Informatics and (et) Informatique. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 18( 2). Available at:  http://www.softwarehistory.org/history/Bauer1.html

Bottle, R. T. (2003). Information Science. IN: International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science. 2^nd. ed. Ed. by John Feather & Paul Sturges. London: Routledge (p. 295-297).

Döhl, B. (Ed.). (1991). EDB-LEX. Det store informatik-leksikon. København: Teknisk Forlag.

Fourman, M. P. (2003) Informatics. IN: International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science. 2^nd. ed. Ed. by John Feather & Paul Sturges. London: Routledge (p. 237-244).

Malcolm, C. (2002).  What Does Informatics Mean?  http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/informatics.shtml

Mikhailov, A. I.; Chernyi, A. I.& Gilyaresvskii, R. S. (1969). On Theoretical Problems of Informatics. Moscow: All Union Institute for Scientific and Technical Information. (FID 435)

Michajlov, A.I.; Cernyj, A. I. & R.S. Giljarevskij, R. S. (1980). Wissenschaftliche Kommunikation und Informatik. Leipzig: VEB Bibliographisches Institut. (Pp. 347-353: "Zum Terminus 'Informatik'", pp. 353-358: "Der gegenstand der informatik").

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2005). Informatics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informatics

WordNet 2. http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=informatics

See also: Bioinformatics; Chemoinformatics; Historical informatics; Legal informatics; Medical informatics; Social informatics; Social Science Informatics

Birger Hjørland

Last edited: 08-05-2006

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1. Commentary: When the FID-definition of informatics, cited above, states that informatics "investigates the structure and properties (not the specific content) of scientific information" it is making the assumption that the structure and property of scientific information is independent of the specific content. This is wrong, and the core problem in informatics (as well as Information Science and Library and Information Science) is related to the misunderstanding that principles are independent of specific content. Domain analysis is the approach to IS that explicitly is based on the opposite assumption. IS is one among the metafields, which study how the specific content is organized, communicated, used etc.