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Another related point: is it realistic to talk about 'information' at all in computing terms? It often seems to me that it is only signalling - like, say, the electronic equivalent of waving semaphore flags. Nothing becomes genuine information until the human brain deciphers the signal.
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WHY do I want to read informatix as infomatrix?
Is there such a word as infomatrix?
There should be!
Infomatrix : I like it.
Sounds like something the average dunce (like me) can use without too much difficulty!
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wow wonders: WHY do I want to read informatix as infomatrix?
Well, AnnaS *did refer to herself as an informatrix, at least in this informator's admittedly spotty memory.
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“Informática” is the word used in Spain when referring to Information Sciences or any computer-related matter. We call computers “ordenadores” both words have been borrowed from the French.
In South America, however, the equivalent words are “computación” and “computador” clearly borrowed from USA.
Apart of being more familiarized with “informática” it seems to me as more precise than “computación” which could means any kind of calculation with or without information processing involved.
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old hand
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> it seems to me as more precise than “computación” which could means any kind of calculation with or without information processing involved.
deciding what deserves the title 'information' could get sticky ....
> Nothing becomes genuine information until the human brain deciphers the signal.
You dare to speculate that the term was ill-concieved from the start, Mav? I think perhaps they'll go along with this word until the next fad brings more range.
stop reading here, C.K.
----------------------
Smug Whiffet definition:
Informatics is a widely used industry term, that no one really ever thought through, but, is one which everyone pretends to understand [see the 'Just don't ask' Syndrome], besides it sounds kinda funky and fresh.
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This isn't computer-ese, but could someone please explain this to me anyway? CK?
"The BIG MAC INDEX
The Economist's Big Mac index seeks to make exchange-rate theory more digestible. It is arguably the world's most accurate financial indicator to be based on a fast-food item. For Burgernomics and side-orders click here. "
Burgernomics???
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Jackie,
The Economist has been publishing this quarterly (?) index for the past 20 (??) years. It's your basic down-to-the-bones cost-of-living (price of cheese, price of beef, price of bread) index. Lots of folks swear by it, but I think it has some flaws.... Still, it ain't bad for a synopsis kind of thang.
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It's your basic down-to-the-bones cost-of-living (price of cheese, price of beef, price of bread) index. Lots of folks swear by it, but I think it has some flaws.... Still, it ain't bad for a synopsis kind of thang.
Can you tell me if I understand the basic premise correctly, Anna? The most recent publication of the index was commented on in my local rag, and the story went thusly: A Big Mac should, theoretically, cost the same in US dollars everywhere. If A Big Mac costs less in greenbacks than in the States, that currency is undervalued. If it costs more, it is overvalued. By that reckoning, apparently, the two most undervalued currencies in the developed world are the AUD and the NZD, both undervalued by between 40 and 43%. A Big Mac here costs the equivalent of around $1.51 US. In Switzerland, apparently, it costs around $5 US, making the SFR the most overvalued currency in the Big Mac Index. The authors of the index do say that is intended largely as a lighthearted way of conveying basic trends, and ought not be viewed as Gospel. 
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I hadn't paid much heed to this thread, but since I'm posting like a Mad Thing tonight, I thought I would give the ol' OED a looksee; imagine my surprise to find that informatics has been around since 1967 and Russian is given as the etymological source!
[tr. Russ. informátika (A. I. Mikhailov et al. 1966, in Nauchno-tekhnicheskaya Informatsiya XII. 35), f. information: see -ics.]
(See quot. 1967.) Cf. information science (information 8). Hence infor"matical a., informa"tician.
1967 FID News Bull. XVII. 73/2 Informatics is the discipline of science which investigates the structure and properties (not specific content) of scientific information, as well as the regularities of scientific information activity, its theory, history, methodology and organization. 1970 Times 2 Sept. 9 It was agreed+that an introduction to Informatics should form an integral part of general education. 1972 Jrnl. Librarianship IV. 177 The name Informatics satisfies several criteria for the designation of a new discipline. Ibid., Other terms can be derived from it, such as Informatician for a person who is engaged in activities in this field+and the adjective informatical, to describe the attributes of the field. 1973 Times Lit. Suppl. 28 Sept. 1133/1 The problem falls into two parts: the preparation of decisions, which is a matter of informatics, and the making of the decisions themselves, which is a matter of ‘politics’.
(sometimes I wonder about the folks who dig out these citations -- don't they have lives?)
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Since the website where I first saw the word belnogs to one of our own, I will offer the definition provided by an online medical dictionary, appropriate because of the medical context in which it is used at the website in question.Hi, Jo
"The study of the application of computer and statistical techniques to the management of information. In genome projects, informatics includes the development ofmethods to search databases quickly, to analyse DNA sequence information, and to predict proteinsequence and structure fromDNA sequence data."
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