Informatics

What Does Informatics Mean?

Informatics is the study of the behavior and structure of any system that generates, stores, processes and then presents information; it is basically the science of information. The field takes into consideration the interaction between the information systems and the user, as well as the construction of the interfaces between the two, such as the user interface.

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Techopedia Explains Informatics

The term informatics was first coined by a German computer scientist by the name of Karl Steinbuch in 1957 through his published paper titled "Informatics: Automatic Information Processing." Informatics was then used interchangeably with computer science as its German word "Informatik" is usually translated to English as computer or computing science. In 1994, the University of Edinburgh in Scotland formed a grouping that is now its School of Informatics and gave the general meaning of informatics as "the study of the structure, algorithms, behavior, and interactions of natural and artificial computational systems." The meaning gained widespread use in the UK.

There is still no universal meaning for informatics as different organizations, educational or otherwise, have their own meaning for it. But all of these different ways of defining informatics still adhere to the same core that it is about the study and application of information and information technology in everyday processes.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…