Information systems (discipline)

Information Systems (IS) is a professional and academic discipline concerned with the strategic, managerial and operational activities involved in the gathering, processing, storing, distributing and use of information, and its associated technologies, in society and organizations.^[1] As an area of study, IS bridges the multidisciplinary business field and the interdisciplinary computer science field that is evolving toward a new scientific discipline.^[2][3][4][5] An information systems discipline therefore is supported by the theoretical foundations ofinformation and computations such that undergraduate students have unique opportunities to explore the academics of various business models as well as related algorithmic processes within a computer science discipline.^[6][7][8] Typically, information systems or the more common legacy information systems include people, procedures, data, software, and hardware (by degree) that are used to gather and analyze digital information.^[9][10] Specifically computer-based information systems are complementary networks of hardware/software that people and organizations use to collect, filter, process, create, & distribute data (computing).^[11] Today, Computer Information System(s) (CIS) is often a track within the computer science field studying computers and algorithmic processes, including their principles, their software & hardware designs, their applications, and their impact on society.^[12][13][14] Overall, an IS discipline emphasizes functionality over design.^[15]

The history of information systems coincides with the history of computer science that began long before the modern discipline of computer science emerged in the twentieth century.^[16] Regarding the circulation of information and ideas, numerous legacy information systems still exist today that are continuously updated to promote ethnographic approaches, to ensure data integrity, and to improve the social effectiveness & efficiency of the whole process.^[17] In general, information systems are focused upon processing information within organizations, especially within business enterprises, and sharing the benefits with modern society.^[18]