The Discipline of Informatics
Note that in Europe we tend to use the term
“Informatics” to denote the subject known in the USA and elsewhere as “Computer
Science” (CS) or “Computing”.
Informatics is the science whose effect can be seen in
two ways. It has created the new digital world in which text, images, movies
and dynamic models of the real world can be stored, retrieved and manipulated,
alongside a virtual world of games and simulation. It has been a major
accelerator and often a necessary tool in research and development within all
of the other sciences and engineering and created new disciplines in
collaboration with them by developing new models of representing domain
specific data and novel ways of human interaction with those models.
Informatics has its own
corpus of concepts, theories, principles, methods, body of knowledge, and open
issues. Through its scientific methods and technological developments,
Informatics has brought about transformational change across a range of
sectors. It now plays a vital role in every aspect of society, and challenges
and affects all professions, disciplines, and school subjects. Its contribution
to economic development is widely recognised and it has enabled advances and
novel research in many disciplines. Its social impact is apparent in the
ubiquitous nature of the World Wide Web and its further exploitation in the
Internet of Things. Its scientific relevance is backed up by about 2 million
peer-reviewed articles (out of an estimated overall total of 70 million)
published in academic journals throughout the world since its birth around 60
years ago.
