Overview

What is Informatics?
Informatics is more than computer science or information technology. It refers to the structures, behavior and interactions of systems that store, process, and communicate information contained within the physical and other sciences. It focuses on how people communicate and learn and how effective communication and other technologies can facilitate better scientific research and learning -- to the point where new knowledge and understanding can be achieved. Example informatics areas of research include Bioinformatics, Biodiversity informatics, Cheminformatics, Ecoinformatics, Geoinformatics, and Social informatics.

The science and technology of Ocean informatics is now emerging. Since Oceanography is by definition inter-disciplinary, several existing informatics technology areas will be incorporated into ocean informatics. Thus, the development of ocean informatics has the potential to identify commonalities and integrate technologies, tools, and concepts that exist in other fields of informatics.

Ocean Informatics Working Group

The WHOI Ocean Informatics Working Group is focusing on the data-handling needs of WHOI scientists. Once common needs among research projects and individual researchers have been identified it will recommend a strategy and an action plan to build a robust data informatics infrastructure at WHOI. This informatics infrastructure will complement the computing and network infrastructure that already exists at WHOI.

A 4-person team, currently dubbed the Ocean Informatics Working Group, was established in early 2009. Thanks to a modest budget provided by the WHOI directorate alongside synergistic staff resources provided by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), the task force spent its first year engaging in many staff interviews, creating / assisting in several proposal efforts, directly supporting research projects, and researching ideas in support of an ocean informatics effort at WHOI.

A strategic report entitled "An Ocean Informatics Strategy for WHOI" will be published later this year. Based on project experiences and in terviews the team has had with WHOI scientists, it will provide details of the current and future informatics needs of WHOI scientists, a summary of the activities undertaken during 2009 by the working group, a vision of the data infrastructure needed to support WHOI's science mission, and will make recommendations for both a long-term strategy and shorter-term actions to make that vision a reality.

Last updated: August 31, 2010