On the Current Connection and Relation Between Health Informatics and Social Informatics
Scholars from the health and medical sciences have recently proposed the term social informatics (SI) as a new scientific subfield of health informatics (HI). However, SI is not a new academic concept; in fact, it has been continuously used in the social sciences and informatics since the...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| Online Access: | https://www.jmir.org/2022/9/e40547 |
| _version_ | 1797734744034639872 |
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| author | Zdenek Smutny Vasja Vehovar |
| author_facet | Zdenek Smutny Vasja Vehovar |
| author_sort | Zdenek Smutny |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Scholars from the health and medical sciences have recently proposed the term social informatics (SI) as a new scientific subfield of health informatics (HI). However, SI is not a new academic concept; in fact, it has been continuously used in the social sciences and informatics since the 1970s. Although the dominant understanding of SI was established in the 1990s in the United States, a rich international perspective on SI has existed since the 1970s in other regions of the world. When that perspective is considered, the fields of understanding can be structured into 7 SI schools of thought. Against that conceptual background, this paper contributes to the discussion on the relationship between SI and HI, outlining possible perspectives of SI that are associated with health, medical, and clinical aspects. This paper argues against the multiplication and inconsistent appearance of the term SI when newly used in health and medical sciences. A more explicit name for the area that uses health and social data to advance individual and population health might be helpful to overcome this issue; giving an identity to this new field would help it to be understood more precisely and bring greater separation. This labeling could be fruitful for further segmentation of HI, which is rapidly expanding. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:48:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c66008495d7c4c7bb0aea43cd567afd9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1438-8871 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:48:55Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-c66008495d7c4c7bb0aea43cd567afd92023-08-28T23:09:04ZengJMIR PublicationsJournal of Medical Internet Research1438-88712022-09-01249e4054710.2196/40547On the Current Connection and Relation Between Health Informatics and Social InformaticsZdenek Smutnyhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6646-2991Vasja Vehovarhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3253-7959 Scholars from the health and medical sciences have recently proposed the term social informatics (SI) as a new scientific subfield of health informatics (HI). However, SI is not a new academic concept; in fact, it has been continuously used in the social sciences and informatics since the 1970s. Although the dominant understanding of SI was established in the 1990s in the United States, a rich international perspective on SI has existed since the 1970s in other regions of the world. When that perspective is considered, the fields of understanding can be structured into 7 SI schools of thought. Against that conceptual background, this paper contributes to the discussion on the relationship between SI and HI, outlining possible perspectives of SI that are associated with health, medical, and clinical aspects. This paper argues against the multiplication and inconsistent appearance of the term SI when newly used in health and medical sciences. A more explicit name for the area that uses health and social data to advance individual and population health might be helpful to overcome this issue; giving an identity to this new field would help it to be understood more precisely and bring greater separation. This labeling could be fruitful for further segmentation of HI, which is rapidly expanding.https://www.jmir.org/2022/9/e40547 |
| spellingShingle | Zdenek Smutny Vasja Vehovar On the Current Connection and Relation Between Health Informatics and Social Informatics Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| title | On the Current Connection and Relation Between Health Informatics and Social Informatics |
| title_full | On the Current Connection and Relation Between Health Informatics and Social Informatics |
| title_fullStr | On the Current Connection and Relation Between Health Informatics and Social Informatics |
| title_full_unstemmed | On the Current Connection and Relation Between Health Informatics and Social Informatics |
| title_short | On the Current Connection and Relation Between Health Informatics and Social Informatics |
| title_sort | on the current connection and relation between health informatics and social informatics |
| url | https://www.jmir.org/2022/9/e40547 |
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