Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The difference between what we do, and Informatics

Okay brace yourselves, because this is brilliant. ;-)

There are 2 difference between us and informaticists.

First: we have more data than time, and they have more time than data. So we do "the simplest thing that could possibly work" to move data around & get substantive research done, and wind up with not much to brag about in terms of technical architecture. Informaticists spend their time bulding elegant architecture (which you need in order to impress your fellows & get published) which may not be practical for actual industry use.

Second, because we are largely data-recyclers rather than primary generators of data, we are less concerned with standards (other than healthcare and insurance industry standards of course) because it's not up to us what data we get. We get what we get, and make the best of it.

But alas, our funding is hostage to informaticists, and they require that we worship their gods...