(INFORMATICS) A (largely European) term designating the study of all
information processing
systems, artificial and natural, and the application of knowledge gained in such efforts to design and implement
digital computers in society. In practice, informatik includes (the largely U.S.)
computer science, the more application oriented efforts of
management information systems,
automation or
production but also
data processing including statistics for
decision making. Because of its technological commitments, informatik has de-emphasised the study of information flows and
computation within organisms and largely ignored the organisational consequences of information flows, human
communication and the use of computers in large
social systems. Epistemological (
see epistemology ) considerations which are characteristic in
cybernetics are absent in informatik. (
Krippendorff )
