I have to admit I signed up for this class not really having a clue as to what Social Informatics means. Since it stumped me I decided I needed to take the course so I could learn something new. The closest I have come to the subject is health informatics which is the intersection of information science, computer science, and health care. If informatics is defined as the science of processing data for storage and retrieval aka "information science," and social is referring to society and culture then my first thought would be that Social Informatics explore the intersection of data, technology, and culture.
Rob Kling, a professor of information systems and information science at Indianna University provides the following definition:
"A serviceable working conception of "social informatics" is that it identifies a body of research that examines the social aspects of computerization. A more formal definition is "the interdisciplinary study of the design, uses and consequences of information technologies that takes into account their interaction with institutional and cultural contexts."
So I suppose my parsed out definition is not so far off the mark, but I think I have a great deal to learn this semester.
After reviewing your initial post about the definition of Social Informatics, I see that we are on the same page with our ideas that its the combination of technology and society. I think over the course of this semester it will be interesting to see how we as a class grow in our understanding of this concept. I also look forward to each member of the class' perspective.
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