Information science is an interdisciplinary science primarily concerned with the collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information.Merriam-Webster and American Herritage Dictionary. Information science studies the application and usage of knowledge in organizations, and the interaction between people, organizations and information systems. It is often, though not exclusively, studied as a branch of computer science and is closely related to the cognitive and social sciences.

Information Science focuses on understanding problems from the perspective of the stakeholders involved and then applying information (and other) technology as needed. In other words, it tackles the problem first rather than technology first. Within information science, attention has been given in recent years to human–computer interaction, groupware, the semantic web, value sensitive design, iterative design processes and to the ways people generate, use and find information.

Information Science should not be confused with information theory, the mathematical study of the concept of information, or Library and information science a field related to libraries and related information fields.

Definitions of information science

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Some authors treat informatics as a synonym for information science. Because of the rapidly evolving, interdisciplinary nature of informatics, a precise meaning of the term "informatics" is presently difficult to pin down. Regional differences and international terminology complicate the problem. Some people note that much of what is called "Informatics" today was once called "Information Science" at least in fields such as Medical Informatics. However when library scientists began to also use the phrase "Information Science" to refer to their work, the term informatics emerged in the United States as a response by computer scientists to distinguish their work from that of library science, and in Britain as a term for a science of information that studies natural, as well as artificial or engineered, information-processing systems.

See also

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• Informatics
• Cognitive science, cognitive psychology – The mind as an information processing system.
• Computer science – By some definitions, "the study of information."
• Information technology – The use of computers and technology to manage information.
• Knowledge management – Informatics and knowledge.
• International Federation for Information Processing – Global body for informatics.
• Philosophy of Information

External links

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• Journal of Information Science

Information science | Interdisciplinary fields

Informatika | Informationsvidenskab | Informationswissenschaft | מידענות | Ilmu informasi | 情報学 | Informatiekunde | Informasjonsvitenskap | Ciência da informação | Informatika | Informatika | วิทยาการสารสนเทศ | Tin học | 信息学