Web informatics

[jhatter]

Hi

Can anyone please explain what the following terms mean?:

"IT/ web technology/informatics or equivalent"

It is on a job application for a Graphic Designer

Thanks.

[djr33]

Generally, I would guess that means the company wishes that anyone applying for the job has experience in web design or IT. This could mean it requires a degree (it would say that) or just that you have some knowledge, or perhaps have worked in the field.
There's not much we can tell you-- you would need to ask the company to find out exactly what it requires.

As for "Web informatics" specifically, I believe this is the same as the other two: information about how the web works and how to work with it-- working with servers, web pages, HTML, etc.


My general advice is that if you don't understand the question, you probably are not qualified for the job. It makes sense that if you know enough to do the job that you'd probably recognize the terms. The only exception is if this application is just written badly, which is just another reason to contact the company, or just fill out the application and ask for an interview. "Web informatics" doesn't sound like very well-formed English, so this may be a translation or something, though I have no idea... it might be an official term.
Try google for some info... nothing is the clear definition though:
http://www.google.co.cr/search?q=web+informatics

[jhatter]

Thank you for your reply. Yes, that was my first reaction - if I don't understand the term, I'm probably not qualified to apply. But looking at the rest of the job description etc, I feel I could do the job.

I take your point about it not being well-formed English. There is another example of this further on in the "Person Skills", where it states under Essential Skills - Flash / ActionScript. In the next line under Desirable Skills it says - Flash !!!

Before I posted my original question on this forum, I did the obvious thing and Googled the term. Top of the list took me to webinformatics.net, which spoke in such general, non-specific terms that seemed vague.

Also the site was built purely with tables and looked like it had been designed in 1998! This led me to think the term and site wasn't that cutting edge.

[djr33]

Based on all of that and assuming you generally understand "web informatics" (in the vague sense), I don't see any reason not to apply.

[traq]

Based on all of that and assuming you generally understand "web informatics" (in the vague sense), I don't see any reason not to apply.

that is, as long as you're comfortable with the fact that you may have to explain web informatics to your supervisor on a regular basis, with extreme patience...

[jhatter]

Hi Traq, as a Senior Coder you sound like you are able to help me by summing up the term (if you had to explain it to your supervisor). All I really want to know is do I know it by a different term.

[djr33]

It's pretty clear that it just means "information systems of the web". So unless your boss has a specific definition (he/she may), it's just general knowledge.

Note that "senior coder" here is just based on posts, not that I'm saying Traq doesn't know a lot, but that's only a forum title. (Just for your information.)

[traq]

yeah.

What I meant is, that since the company is using such a vague term in their job description, they may not really have an in-depth understanding of what they actually need or what you will actually be doing, just that they need a "web guy." It might turn out that you will know more about what you do than your supervisor, which can be a difficult situation.

Edit:

(I'm not saying that that is necessarily the case here, but I have seen companies use "big words" in job descriptions out of fear of sounding uninformed.)

[DJCyrus81]

IT means information technology