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Since the late 1970s, the term “informatics” has increasingly been adopted to describe the application of information technology to various fields, such as legal informatics, medical informatics, social informatics and organizational informatics. This article provides a brief survey of informatics with respect to its historical background, disciplinary identity, fundamental aspects, applications, and challenges.

This paper reflects the ideas on the subject of the Internet presented by four German experts at the German Language Session which took place during the 19th International Information Online Meeting in London, 5‐7 December 1995. The German Language Session was chaired again by Kristina Voigt of the GSF‐Research Centre for Environment and Health in Neuherberg, near Munich, Germany. As both the panel members and the Chairperson felt that the ideas given in their short presentations should be made available to a wider audience, they all agreed to give extended abstracts of their contributions for publication in this international journal. This procedure should give not only the German‐speaking community, but also other international interested parties the oppor‐tunity to be informed on the topics discussed.

This study aims to raise awareness of the key challenges, opportunities and priorities for evidence-based strategies’ application to inform building and urban design decisions.

This study uses deductive qualitative content and manifest analysis, using semi-structured interviews undertaken with building and urban design professionals who represent a UK-based organisation.

The challenges associated with the practical implementation of frameworks, potential application areas and perceived areas of concern have been identified. These not only include the need to practically test their use, but also to identify the most appropriate forums for their use. Participant responses indicate the need to further develop engagement strategies for their practical implementation, clearly communicating the benefits and efficiencies to all stakeholders.

Implications/ limitations of this study come with the fact that some of the respondents may possess inadequate professional experience in properly evaluating all the questions. Additionally, the information gathered is restricted to the UK geographical context, as well as coming from one organisation, because of data accessibility.

The findings of the study can be adopted by designers in the strategic definition level to overcome the key challenges associated with the use of evidence-based strategies, enhancing their decision-making processes.

As a theoretical contribution to knowledge, this study enhances the body of knowledge by identifying the challenges associated with the practical implementation of evidence-based strategies to inform building and urban design decisions. In practice, the findings aid urban planners, designers and academics in embedding and adopting strategies that enhance decision-making processes.

The topic of environmental protection has always been of great concern in Germany, the establishment of environmental data sources started in the 1970s. The development of environmental information system technology in Germany is outlined and two examples are given: the Environmental Planning and Information System (UMPLIS) and the Integrated Public Environmental Information System (UIS) Baden‐Wuerttemberg. Relevant German environmental data sources are discussed, such as Environmental Literature Database (ULIDAT), Environmental Research Projects Database (UFORDAT), and Environmental Law Databases (URDB), as well as the chemical databases which comprise environmental information – the BEILSTEIN database and the Landolt‐Boernstein database. The Information System for Environmental Chemicals with its four metadatabases – Metadatabase of Literature on Environmental Chemicals (DALI), Metadatabase of Online Databases for Environmental Chemicals (DADB), Metadatabase of CD‐ROMs for Environmental Chemicals (DACD), and the Metadatabase of Internet Resources (DAIN).

1. Introduction to the German Language Session. The German session (rather, the German language session) at the 18th International Online Conference in London, 6–8 December 1994, was on the subject of German or German language databases for national and international users. This subject is best shown using environmental sciences as an example.

Sustainable development (SD) does not usually form part of the curriculum of ICT-related study programs such as Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Systems, and Informatics. However, many topics form a bridge between SD and ICT and could potentially be integrated into ICT-related study programs. This paper reports the findings of a study into which specific topics in the field of SD have the greatest potential to motivate students on ICT-related study programs to engage with the topic of sustainability.

In this exploratory study, the authors evaluated Bachelor’s and Master’s courses that introduced the topic of SD to students on ICT-related study programs. The evaluation focuses on the insights that the students gained into sustainability and the extent to which their motivation to engage with the subject was increased. The evaluation combines qualitative and quantitative approaches.

The authors identify five thematic clusters with the greatest potential to motivate students to engage with the topic of sustainability: A conceptual model of the positive and negative impacts of ICT; Reports on the recycling of ICT hardware; Examples of using ICT to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with a focus on the substitution of virtual for physical presence; Statistical data on post-industrial seemingly dematerialized economies and the contradiction with regard to the total material demand of such economies; Evidence for rebound effects that lead to increasing demand for goods or services that are produced with less energy input or can be consumed faster.

ICT is a transformational and to a certain extent disruptive technology. It is therefore important to discuss the development of ICT and its applications in the context of SD. Several authors have pointed out the need to integrate the topic of sustainability into ICT courses at universities and similar, but few have discussed how this can be done in practice. Our study is the first to explore which topics have the greatest potential to motivate students on ICT-related programs to engage with the area of SD.

In environmental reports contained environmental data must be updated and edited regularly (e.g. according to the reporting period). An important part of each environmental report is a systematic representation and evaluation of the substantial material and energy flows in a enterprise. In an ideal case specialized software systems exist for eco‐balancing, which makes external access to its data possible. These data can be transferred automatically and thus rationally into the document structure of an environmental report. In this article a basic approach is introduced for automatic transfer of ecological balance data into a XML form and the integration into an environmental report using the software tool Umberto.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study of the establishment and development of a minor program in Sustainable Development in Tongji University, China, and how it contributes to embedding sustainable development into higher education system as an alternative platform for researchers and students to involve in a transdisciplinary teaching and learning process.

This case reviews the institutional setting and the different studying models and requirements for postgraduates and undergraduates. Postgraduate students have to take four core courses, select one module with four themed courses (4 + 4 fixed) and complete a transdisciplinary essay, and undergraduates can choose any three courses in all modules apart from the four core courses (4 + 3 open), with a transdisciplinary group project.

The development of the minor program reveals the popularity and decline of different modules, because of the popularity of the schools and institutes behind them, the university legacy and the media influence. The program design spurs transdisciplinary thinking on sustainable development but brings about challenges including time conflict with students’ major study. In conclusion, this program explores alternative education practices in embedding sustainable development in education system, contributing to and reflect on Education for Sustainable Development and the education reform in China.

The case presents a unique way of implementing Education for Sustainable Development in higher education system, in which minor education stands between formal and informal curriculum to tackle the barriers in undertaking sustainable development initiatives in curricula, through nurturing the culture and providing organizational support.

The purpose of this paper is to define suitable tracers that are particularly significant in assessing the impact on the surrounding environment caused by a steel making plant.

The authors focussed on the detection and quantification of inorganic pollutants such as heavy metals in the soil and in the air in the surrounding area of the steel making plant. The presented data, concerning a plant in the North part of Italy, come from an approach that took into account the advantages of different devices and sampling criteria: apart from conventional devices, two kinds of deposimeters have been used (for characterizing either total or wet/dry depositions). Their locations have been chosen taking into account the distance from the plant.

The paper demonstrates that the presence of diffused emissions plays an important (negative) role still today; thus a modern plant should reduce this kind of emission in order to be accepted from the population living in the surroundings. In the analyzed case study, the benefits of adopting the best available technologies can be seen from the temporal variability of the incidence of the plant.

The value of the paper is in the support that it can give to decision makers that must manage a steel making plant in an area.