But informatics doesn't just refer to keeping a class list on a computer or communicating with students via e-mail. Even if we never used a computer, we would still be concerned about the intertwining of computing methods and other disciplines. Informatics is about finding the computational issues that lie at the heart of the problems in health science, in biology, in geography, and in other areas. In the United States, the term is usually associated with the notion of integrating computer science into some other disciplinary area. Informatics is about not only text but other forms of data and information such as images, sound, and video.
Informatics is about discovering new models for using and analyzing information.
At The University of Iowa, informatics is not new. In nursing, library science, the geosciences, engineering, and other areas, UI faculty and staff have been working with informatics for years. But a committee that began meeting in September is making an effort to formalize the discussion and to look toward the future. The committee, composed of faculty and staff from a range of disciplines and headed up by Decker and Les Sims, interim vice provost, was formed under the direction of the Offices of the Provost and the Vice President for Research. There's not a department or college that remains untouched by informatics.