are solved through the effective use of
computing, and we must better understand the diverse problem domains
themselves.
The vision for informatics follows
from the natural evolution of computing. The success of computing is in the
resolution of problems, found in areas
that are predominately outside of computing. Advances in computing—and
computing education—require greater
understanding of the problems where
they are found: in business, science,
and the arts and humanities. Students
must still learn computing, but they
must learn it in contextualized ways.
This, then, provides a definition for informatics: informatics is a discipline
that solves problems through the application of computing or computation, in
the context of the domain of the problem. Broadening computer science
through attention to informatics not
only offers insights that will drive advances in computing, but also more options and areas of inquiry for students,
which will draw increasing numbers of
them to study computation.
informatics Programs
Computer science is focused on the
design of hardware and software
technology that provides computation.
Informatics, in general, studies the
intersection of people, information,
and technology systems. It focuses on
the ever-expanding, ubiquitous, and
embedded relationship between information systems and the daily lives of
people, from simple systems that support personal information management to massive distributed databases
manipulated in real time. The field
helps design new uses for information
technology that reflect and enhance
the way people create, find, and use
information, and it takes into account
the strategic, social, cultural, and organizational settings in which those solutions will be used.
In the U.S., informatics programs
emerged over the past decade, though
not always under the informatics
name, and often in different flavors
that bear the unique stamp of their
faculty. Prominent examples include
“Informatics” (Indiana University, University of Michigan, University of Washington, UC Irvine), “Human Computer
Interaction” (Carnegie Mellon Univer-
the success of
computing is in
the resolution of
problems, found
in areas that are
predominately
outside of computing.
sity), “Interactive Computing” (Georgia
Tech), “Information Technology and
Informatics” (Rutgers), and “
Information Science and Technology” (Penn
State). Some programs emerged primarily from computer science roots;
others from information and social science roots. They do all generally agree
on the centrality of the interaction of
people and technology, and thus regardless of origin they are multidisciplinary and focus on computation in
human contexts.
Informatics is fundamentally an
interdisciplinary approach to domain
problems, and as such is limited neither to a single discipline nor a single
domain. This is evident in another type
of diversity in such programs: some
take a fairly broad approach, with
several distinct tracks or application
domains, which can range as widely
as art and design, history, linguistics,
biology, sociology, statistics and economics. Other programs are limited
to a single application domain, such
as bioinformatics (for example, Iowa
State, Brigham Young, and UC Santa
Cruz). Thus, informatics programs can
have as many differences as they have
commonalities. This has been reflected in some confusion and frustration
about how to establish a community
of interest. For example, there is an
“iSchool” caucus (about 27 members),
and a partially overlapping CRA (IT)
Deans group (about 40 members). To
illustrate some of the issues, we will
describe two of the broader programs
with which we are most familiar.
The School of Informatics and Com-
puting at Indiana University Blooming-
ton offers a traditional CS degree and
an informatics degree, which was first
offered in 2000. Its informatics curricu-
lum is focused along three dimensions
that are first presented in an introduc-
tory course: foundations, implications,
and applications. Unlike most tradi-
tional computer science curricula, the
introductory course does not focus on
programming as the sole problem-
solving paradigm. Instead, a number
of skills, concepts, and problem solv-
ing techniques are introduced and
motivated by context-based problems,
including logical reasoning, basic pro-
gramming, teamwork, data visualiza-
tion, and presentation skills. Following
this introduction, foundations courses
include discrete math and logical rea-
soning, a two-course programming
sequence, and a course on data and
information representation, while
implications courses include social
informatics and human computer in-
teraction. The foundations topics are
similar to those in a computer science
program; however, the ordering is quite
different, in that programming comes
last rather than first. This sequencing
increases retention in the major be-
cause students have more time to de-
velop their technical skills.
