The State of Informatics
Informatics Maryland 2006
On November 28, 2006, Lighthouse Information Systems, Inc. attended a conference concerning the present and future of informatics in Maryland. Informatics Maryland 2006 presented an array of topics concerning;
- Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining
- Information Assurance
- Networking and Connectivity
- The Data Explosion
The event was hosted by the Informatics Coalition along with a variety of other sponsors and partner organizations such as Tech Council of Maryland.
The following article provides a summary of key discussions made at Informatics Maryland 2006 to benefit clients of Lighthouse Information Systems, Inc. as well as the general public. An essential part of delivering high-end, high-quality information solutions involves learning, and implementing where necessary, the latest technology methodologies and advancements. Lighthouse Information Systems, Inc. makes technology research and implementation a priority for its client and company goals.
Definition & Purpose
The most meaningful definition of Informatics is; the power of computing to help humans think, reason, and discover. Human beings are using information more and more in their everyday lives. This information is stored, read, edited, and manipulated through a variety of methods and security conditions throughout the United States and the world.
Information sharing, especially in regard to the Internet, has brought the world together in a way never before seen in the human culture. The rate at which internet information has grown has occurred much faster than other industrial and technological achievements within our world. Therefore, responsibility in which information is handled and secured must be addressed with utmost importance as our society moves forward.
Knowledge Discovery & Data Mining
Data mining is the process of analyzing data in order to predict the future. This informational science presents a lot of promise as well as some challenges. The abundance of information available in today's society, via the Internet and other sources, allows for humans to gather such data and derive patterns and associations from it.
One of the largest sources of freely available data is the World Wide Web or Internet. Mining open source information is beneficial for security measures, crime prevention or investigations, market opinion, and general public opinion, to name a few. Web pages act as unstructured free text data which can be analyzed in order to automatically extract relationships. This can be a rather intimidating thought due to the nature of tracking and analyzing information that may be personal to you.
This leads us to one of the biggest challenges facing the science of data mining; privacy. Organizations that practice such research should adhere to privacy regulations regarding available information. Also, where do search engine corporations draw the line regarding their archived search queries? There has already been issue with a search engine company releasing personal search information to the public domain. The privacy of information publicly and privately available on the Internet will continue to be in the forefront of data mining and knowledge discovery.
Information Assurance
Securely storing and sharing information is a primary concern as our culture continues into the Information Age. While some secure sharing technologies exist, there needs to be improved methodologies for the sharing of information without losing security and privacy. Some implementations using secure XML packets have been successful by maintaining control as the information travels from its source location.
Operating systems, on which software is run, are equally important when dealing with security implementations. The open source operating system SELinux provides the security and stability needed for a strong foundation.
Technology vendors cannot build castles ( database ) on a foundation of sand ( operating system ).
— Frank Mayer, www.tresys.com
Information assurance can be achieved through the adoption of best development practices, testing and monitoring, code protection, and life-cycle support. Assurance for quality products and information storage should be maintained through continuous technology education.
Networking & Connectivity
While internet connectivity has grown exponentially in recent years, there is still a large portion of the United States and the world which has limited or no connectivity. These statistics will increase as the ISP industry continues to build their network infrastructures. As time and information progress in unison, the need for uninterrupted information delivery will be imperative to businesses and security forces.
But there is an Achilles heel to the Internet. Natural storms and disasters can still cripple portions information connectivity due to unforeseen power outages and other related conditions. Eventually, the world network will need to be at a point where internet backbones can be regenerated instantaneously in order to adjust to natural disaster scenarios.
The Data Explosion
A great increase of information accessibility and storage has become present in society. Database solutions are present in small home based usage to large scale research and professional applications. Information analytics can be implemented no matter how large or small the solution.
Practical applications for data storage involve creating visual representations of textual information. A primary example is the science of Astronomy. The sky and universe contain uncountable pieces of information which humans strive to record and study. Informatics allows for humans to store information, evaluate the present, and hypothesize the future though mathematical and visual technology solutions.
Conclusion
The Informatics Coalition is an initiative of the Technology Leadership Consortium, a volunteer group of leaders of technology organizations throughout Maryland, all of whom play essential roles in the evolution of the sciences of Informatics.
— About, www.informaticscoalition.com
