Internet challenges for informatics research

Abstract

1 Informatics is a young discipline indeed. After computers appeared 50 years ago, the field was broadly divided between designing hardware (electronics) and programming software (combinatorics, mathematical logic). There was a dichotomy between scientific computing (engineering and science) and data processing (administration, services)-to the extent that two families of computers were developed for the two application fields. Progressively the two lines merged, programming became the dominant paradigm (to the extent that nowadays hardware is macro-generated by software), and data processing was for a while relegated to the sub-field of databases. Mathematical logic evolved to adapt itself as the foundation of constructive mathematics needed for expressing algorithms , data structures and networking protocols. The computing centers vanished, while personal computers invaded people's homes and offices. Computers shrunk to get embedded in cars, cameras, telephones, televisions , games, home appliances. Most importantly, networks merged into Internet, a major new actor in our civilization, which opens unforeseen opportunities for societal mutations. In this unprecedented technical revolution, the terminology " computer science " is becoming increasingly obsolete. Algorithms, logical specifications, process calculi and numerous relevant mathematical areas are being interlinked in an emerging major science, Informatics, with vigorous fundamental research. But in this major revolution brought about in engineering, medicine, commerce, transportation and most sectors of human activity, programs proper are somehow becoming secondary to the data they manipulate. Text, voice, images, physical measurements in a range of scales from astronomy to cell and atomic structures, are sensed, stored, computed upon daily in a worldwide computing maze. Already 20 years ago, Steve Jobs launched the NeXT cube, delivered to every customer with Shakespeare's complete works on disk. Today any PC owner has a complete GPS cartography of the planet at his disposal for navigation on the Web through Google™ Earth. The works of art of passed centuries, the artifacts of ancient civilizations, the testimonies of passed and present cultures, are being digitalized, analyzed, digested in virtual museums open to everyone's perusal. Bamiyan's buddhas are resurrected from the dust of destruction, forever smiling in their pristine detachment from history's turmoil. World's cultural heritage is here and now at our fingertips. Archives, libraries and museums are opening up in everyone's home, ready to deliver their secrets and treasures. Knowledge is plied out of academic institutions, education is liberated from intermediation, significant information is exchanged out of the control of official channels. The maze of traditional knowledge …