információtudományokban

Információtudomány, or information science in English, is the interdisciplinary study of how information is created, organized, stored, retrieved, and used. It combines perspectives from librarianship, computer science, cognitive science, and social science to understand information needs, behaviors, and the design of systems that support discovery, access, and reuse. In Hungarian contexts, információtudomány often includes library science, information organization, and data management as core components.

Historically, the field emerged in the mid-20th century from developments in information theory and library science. Claude Shannon's information theory (1948) provided a framework for quantifying information, while library sciences contributed methods for cataloging and classification. Over subsequent decades, information science expanded to address digital environments, information retrieval, knowledge organization, and human-information interaction.

Core areas include information organization (metadata, taxonomy, and ontology), information retrieval and search design, digital libraries and repositories, information architecture, data management and governance, and information ethics and policy. Methodologies encompass indexing and standards (e.g., Dublin Core, MARC), user studies, and computational techniques from machine learning and natural language processing.

Applications span libraries, archives, museums, education, healthcare, government, and industry. Education programs yield degrees in information science, library and information science, or related informatics tracks, preparing professionals such as information scientists, data librarians, information architects, and knowledge managers. Contemporary challenges include information overload, data quality and provenance, privacy and security, accessibility, and interoperability in a data-driven society.