Information Science Roles in the Emerging Field of Data Science

There has long been discussion about the distinctions of library science, information science, and informatics, and how these areas differ and overlap with computer science. Today the term data science is emerging that generates excitement and questions about how it relates to and differs from these other areas of study. For our purposes here, I consider information science to be the general term that subsumes library science and informatics and focuses on distinctions and similarities among these disciplines that each informs data science. At the most general levels, information science deals with the genesis, flow, use, and preservation of information; computer science deals with algorithms and techniques for computational processes. Data science as a concept emerges from the applications of existing studies of measurement, representation, interpretation, and management to problems in Citation: Gary Marchionini (2016). Information Science Roles in the Emerging Field of Data Science. Received: Mar. 10, 2016 Accepted: Mar. 22, 2016