Tiedonkäsittelynä

Tiedonkäsittelynä is a Finnish term used in information science, cognitive science and related disciplines to denote information processing as a theoretical perspective or design lens. The word is formed from tiedon (information) and käsittely (processing) with the instrumental suffix -nä, signaling "as" or "in the role of." In scholarly Finnish, tiedonkäsittelynä is used to specify that the discussion centers on information processing rather than other aspects of data handling.

Conceptually, tiedonkäsittelynä refers to the transformation of information from input through internal processing to output. It encompasses perception, interpretation, memory, representation, decision-making and feedback. Models aligned with tiedonkäsittelynä describe stages such as encoding, storage and retrieval, as seen in cognitive information processing frameworks, and may be applied to information systems and organizational contexts to explain how knowledge is created and actions are guided by information.

The term is often contrasted with data processing, which emphasizes mechanical or algorithmic manipulation of raw data without consideration of meaning or knowledge structure. As a lens, tiedonkäsittelynä focuses on interpretation, context, and semantics, and on how actors or systems reduce uncertainty through processing.

Applications span education, where cognitive strategies and learning analytics illuminate how information is processed; human-computer interaction, where interfaces are designed to support information processing; library and information science, where information retrieval and knowledge organization are framed as processing tasks; and knowledge management, where information flows are analyzed for decision support.

In Finnish literature, tiedonkäsittelynä appears in theoretical discussions of information processing models and their implications for design, teaching and organizational practice, echoing broader information processing theory from cognitive psychology and information science. See also: information processing model, cognitive psychology, information science, knowledge management.