Informatics can be defined as both technology and science. Considered as a technology, informatics concerns the conception and the upkeep of software and material infrastructure. Considered as a science, it covers an ensemble of theories, formal work tools and methods which assure the basis and the development of the technology and renew our field of knowledge.

What is the importance of informatics?

Informatics is a key discipline which participates directly in the development and functioning of all techniques, sciences and human society. The number of persons involved in the production, treatment and distribution of information is always on the increase. The demand for people qualified in informatics may be subject to certain variations in the economic climate, but its global increase has been evident for some time and this tendency will without doubt be confirmed in the coming years.

How is informatics perceived as a science?

Informatics is a recent and dynamic discipline that is developing in pace with the rapid evolution of technology and the theoretical advances in the science of computing. This progress has a huge impact on all scientific disciplines that use or interact with it. Various interdisciplinary fields originate from informatics, e.g. medical informatics, systems of geographical information, business informatics, legal informatics, bio-informatics, lingual informatics.

Brochure "What informatics stands for" from the Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI)

In July 2005 the Society for Informatics published a brochure that replies to the question "What does informatics stand for ?". It includes answers aimed at the general public about IT, e.g. how and where informatics is used, its influence, how it has changed and how it will develop in the future. 

• Brochure-GI (long version, PDF 600 KB) (only available in German)
• Brochure-GI (short version, PDF 85 KB) (only available in German)

  

Other articles

• Link to an article in the newspaper "Die Zeit", 2006