Informatics: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|ConceptField inof computerstudy scienceof computational systems}}

{{About|the discipline}}

{{distinguish|Library science|Information technology}}

'''Informatics''' (a combination of the words "information" and "automatic") is the study of computational systems.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=What is Informatics? University of Edinburgh|url=https://www.ed.ac.uk/files/atoms/files/what20is20informatics.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=INFORMATICS {{!}} Bedeutung im Cambridge Englisch Wörterbuch|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/de/worterbuch/englisch/informatics|website=dictionary.cambridge.org|language=de}}</ref> According to the [[Association for Computing Machinery|ACM]] Europe Council and [[Informatics Europe]], informatics is synonymous with [[computer science]] and [[computing]] as a profession,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Are We All In The Same Boat? ACM & Informatics Europe|url=https://portalparts.acm.org/hippo/cecereport.pdf}}</ref> in which the central notion is [[Data processing|transformation of information]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=What is Informatics? - Definition from Techopedia|url=http://www.techopedia.com/definition/30332/informatics|website=Techopedia.com|date=October 2014 |language=en}}</ref> In some cases, the term "informatics" may also be used with different meanings, e.g., in the context of [[social computing]],<ref name=":4" /> or in context of [[library science]].<ref name="Wellisch 157–187">{{Cite journal|last=Wellisch|first=Hans|date=1972-07-01|title=From Information Science to Informatics: a terminological investigation|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/096100067200400302|journal=Journal of Librarianship|language=en|volume=4|issue=3|pages=157–187|doi=10.1177/096100067200400302|s2cid=62708018|issn=0022-2232|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

== Different meanings ==

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|''Neuroinformatica''

|[[Neuroinformatics]]

|-

|[[Psychoinformatics]]

|''Psychoinformatik''

|''Психоинформатика''

|''Psychoinformatique''

|''Psicoinformatica''

|Psychoinformatics

|-

|[[Bioinformatics]]

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|}

[[File:Informatics Forum - geograph.org.uk - 990363.jpg|thumb|right|200px|alt=Informatics Forum|[[Informatics Forum]], completed in 2008. It houses researchers of the University of Edinburgh's [[University of Edinburgh School of Informatics|School of Informatics]].]]

In some countries, depending on local interpretations and contexts, the term "informatics" is used synonymously to mean [[information system]]s, [[information science]], [[information theory]], [[information engineering]], [[information technology]], information processing, or other theoretical or practical fields. In Germany, the term ''informatics'' closely corresponds to modern computer science. Accordingly, universities in [[continental Europe]] usually translate "informatics" as [[computer science]], or sometimes [[information and computer science]], although [[technical universities]] may translate it as [[computer science & engineering]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Computer Science and Computer Engineering {{!}} Hochschule Osnabrück|url=https://www.hs-osnabrueck.de/en/study/study-offerings/bachelor/computer-science-and-computer-engineering/|access-date=2020-08-31|website=www.hs-osnabrueck.de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Informatik – Technische Informatik (B.Sc.) {{!}} Hochschule Osnabrück|url=https://www.hs-osnabrueck.de/studium/studienangebot/bachelor/informatik-technische-informatik-bsc/|access-date=2020-08-31|website=www.hs-osnabrueck.de}}</ref> In some countries, this term is associated with [[natural computation]] and [[neural computation]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Forschungszentrum Jülich - Cognitive Neuroinformatics|url=https://www.fz-juelich.de/inm/inm-7/EN/Forschung/Cognitive%20Neuroinformatics/_node.html|access-date=2020-08-22|website=www.fz-juelich.de}}</ref>

In the [[United States]], however, the term ''informatics'' is mostly used in context of [[data science]], [[library science]]<ref name="Wellisch 157–187"/> or its applications in [[healthcare]] ([[health informatics]]),<ref>{{Cite web|title=What is Informatics? USF Health|url=https://www.usfhealthonline.com/resources/key-concepts/informatics-defined/|access-date=2020-08-20|website=www.usfhealthonline.com|date=16 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Informatics Major|url=https://ischool.uw.edu/programs/informatics|access-date=2020-08-20|website=ischool.uw.edu|language=en}}</ref> where it first appeared in the US.

The [[University of Washington]] uses this term to refer to [[social computing]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|title=Informatics Major|url=https://ischool.uw.edu/programs/informatics|website=ischool.uw.edu|language=en}}</ref> In some countries, this term is associated with [[natural computation]] and [[neural computation]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Forschungszentrum Jülich - Cognitive Neuroinformatics|url=https://www.fz-juelich.de/inm/inm-7/EN/Forschung/Cognitive%20Neuroinformatics/_node.html|access-date=2020-08-22|website=www.fz-juelich.de}}</ref>

The [[Government of Canada]] uses the term to refer to operational units offering network and computer services to the various departments.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=informatics&index=enb&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs | title=Informatics &#91;100 records&#93; - TERMIUM Plus® — Search - TERMIUM Plus® | date=8 October 2009 }}</ref>

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More than a dozen nearby universities joined [[Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance]]. Some non-European universities have also adopted this definition (e.g. [[Kyoto University School of Informatics]]).

In 2003, Yingxu Wang popularized term [[cognitive informatics]], described as follows:<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wang|first=Yingxu|date=2003-08-01|title=On Cognitive Informatics|url=https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025401527570|journal=Brain and Mind|language=en|volume=4|issue=2|pages=151–167|doi=10.1023/A:1025401527570|issn=1573-3300|s2cid=61495426|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|Supplementary to matter and energy, information is the third essence for modeling the world. Cognitive informatics focuses on internal information processing mechanisms and the natural intelligence of the brain.}}

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== Informatics as information science ==

{{See also|Library science}}

In the fields of [[geoinformatics]] or [[irrigation informatics]], the term -informatics usually mean [[information science]], in context related to [[library science]]. This was the first meaning of informatics introduced in [[Russia]] in 1966 by A.I. Mikhailov, R.S. Gilyarevskii, and A.I. Chernyi, which referred to a scientific discipline that studies the structure and properties of scientific information.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Yatsko|first=Viatcheslav A.|date=2018|title=Informatics, Information Science, and Computer Science|journal=Scientific and Technical Information Processing|volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=235–240 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329936460|doi=10.3103/S0147688218040081}}</ref> In this context, the term was also used by the [[International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility]]. Some scientists use this term, however, to refer to the science of information processing, not [[data management]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|last=Wang|first=Yingxu|title=2013 IEEE 12th International Conference on Cognitive Informatics and Cognitive Computing |chapter=Basic theories for neuroinformatics and neurocomputing |year=2013|chapter-url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6622217|pages=3–4|doi=10.1109/ICCI-CC.2013.6622217|isbn=978-1-4799-0783-0|s2cid=12488667}}</ref>

In the English-speaking world, the term ''informatics'' was first widely used in the compound [[medical informatics]], taken to include "the cognitive, information processing, and communication tasks of medical practice, education, and research, including information science and the technology to support these tasks".<ref>Greenes, R.A. and Shortliffe, E.H. (1990) "Medical Informatics: An emerging discipline with academic and institutional perspectives." ''[[Journal of the American Medical Association]]'', 263(8) pp. 1114–20. http://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1990.03440080092030</ref> Many such compounds are now in use; they can be viewed as different areas of "''applied informatics''".

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* ''[[Journal of Logic and Computation]]''

* [[Bioinformatics (journal)|''Bioinformatics'']]

* ''Neural Computing and Applications''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Neural Computing and Applications|url=https://www.springer.com/journal/521|website=Springer |date=2025 }}</ref>

* [[Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems|url=https://www.springer.com/journal/10458|website=Springer}}</ref>

* ''[[International Symposium on Fundamentals of Computation Theory]]''

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* ''Annual IEEE [[Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science]]''

* ''Annual [[Symposium on Computational Geometry]]''

* ''[[Simulation & Gaming]]''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Simulation & Gaming|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/home/sag|website=SAGE Journals|date=6 August 2025 |language=en}}</ref>

* ''[[Journal of Machine Learning Research]]''

* ''[[Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research]]''

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* College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at [[University of Michigan]]<ref name="lsa.umich.edu">{{Cite web|title=University of Michigan, Major in Informatics|url=https://lsa.umich.edu/stats/undergraduate-students/undergraduate-programs/informatics.html}}</ref>

* School of Information at [[The University of Texas at Austin]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=University of Texas at Austin, Bachelor's Degree in Informatics|url=https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/programs/informatics}}</ref>

* Manning College of Information & Computer Sciences at [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=University of Massachusetts Amherst, BS in Informatics|work=Manning College of Information & Computer Sciences |date=22 September 2014 |url=https://www.cics.umass.edu/informatics}}</ref>

* [[Texas Women's University]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Texas Women's University, Informatics Bachelor of Science Degrees|url=https://twu.edu/informatics/undergraduate-programs/}}</ref>

* College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at [[University of Michigan]]<ref name="lsa.umich.edu"/>

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* [[Artificial intelligence]]

* [[Behavior informatics]]

* [[Bioinformatics]]

* [[Computational theory of mind]]

* [[Computer simulation]]

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[[Category:Schools of informatics| ]]

[[Category:Library science]]

[[Category:French words and phrases]]

[[Category:German words and phrases]]

[[Category:Italian words and phrases]]

[[Category:Russian words and phrases]]

[[Category:Spanish words and phrases]]