Learning About Social Informatics

Social informatics, in general terms, refers to the field of research that applies to the social aspects of information technology. Social informatics strives to bridge the gap between information technology, or IT, and society. It is an interdisciplinary field that has been gaining prominence for over 25 years.

Social informatics research aims to understand how information technologies can be viewed in a cultural and institutional context. Some areas that social informatics addresses are the roles of information technologies in social changes as well as how information technologies are influenced by social practices. “What are the social impacts of technology?” is one question that would be asked by those studying social informatics. A majority of the information technology examined with social informatics are communication tools. For example, electronic forms of communication such as e-mail especially have a social aspect. Viewing information society problems is also a main component of recent social informatics research.

Social informatics studies integrate a wide range of fields, including anthropology, information systems, computer science, sociology, political science, and many others. Increasingly, universities around the world are providing social informatics study programs for both undergraduate and post-graduate students.

The field of social informatics has traditionally been strong in European countries, and is only recently emerging with interest in North American professionals and universities. Social informatics is a relatively young field, beginning near the early 1970's, but research is continuing and the field is expected to grow as many scientific disciplines recognize the usefulness of social informatics.

Where You Can Find More Information

The following links will guide you to articles on social informatics, upcoming social informatics conferences, as well as great learning resources related to the field of social informatics, or SI.

http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Jun-05/helavais.html. This article, “Social Informatics: Beyond Emergence,” is from the Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. You can learn details about what social informatics means and developments in this exciting new field.

http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january99/kling/01kling.html. D-Lib Magazine explains what social informatics is and why it matters. The article, written by Rob Kling of Indiana University , is very thorough and detailed. You will be sure to gain a greater understanding and clarification about the field of social informatics.

http://rkcsi.indiana.edu/. The Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics at Indiana University can provide you with a range of resources for understanding social informatics, such as conferences, research activity, news, and papers.

http://social-informatics.org/. This web site offers a large variety of resources relating to social informatics. You will find links to journals, news in the field of social informatics, a history of the field, events, a forum, and links to research centers and study programs. This extensive web site is a great place to become familiar with all things related to social informatics.

http://inform.nu/Articles/Vol3/v3n2p89-96r.pdf. “Social Informatics in the Information Sciences: Current Activities and Emerging Directions” was published in a special issue on information science research in Informing Science. Steve Sawyer of Pennsylvania State University and Howard Rosenbaum of Indiana University outline some of the central principles of the social informatics perspective. Learn about the contributions of social informatics and the intellectual geography of this field.

http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/ISI2007/. The Intelligence and Security Informatics conference to be held in New Jersey during May of 2007 may be of interest to individuals involved in the field of social informatics. Visit this web site for information on registration, paper submissions, program schedules, speakers, and panels.

http://www.uonbi.ac.ke/conferences/callfopaps.php. The International Computer Science and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Conference will be held in February this year in Kenya . Find out more about this exciting upcoming event.

Learning how people interact is crucial to developing better social systems as well as responses.