<s>
Astroinformatics	B-Application
is	O
an	O
interdisciplinary	O
field	O
of	O
study	O
involving	O
the	O
combination	O
of	O
astronomy	O
,	O
data	O
science	O
,	O
machine	O
learning	O
,	O
informatics	O
,	O
and	O
information/communications	O
technologies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
field	O
is	O
closely	O
related	O
to	O
astrostatistics	B-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
Astroinformatics	B-Application
is	O
primarily	O
focused	O
on	O
developing	O
the	O
tools	O
,	O
methods	O
,	O
and	O
applications	O
of	O
computational	O
science	O
,	O
data	O
science	O
,	O
machine	O
learning	O
,	O
and	O
statistics	O
for	O
research	O
and	O
education	O
in	O
data-oriented	O
astronomy	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Early	O
efforts	O
in	O
this	O
direction	O
included	O
data	B-Application
discovery	I-Application
,	O
metadata	O
standards	O
development	O
,	O
data	B-Application
modeling	I-Application
,	O
astronomical	O
data	B-Application
dictionary	I-Application
development	O
,	O
data	B-General_Concept
access	I-General_Concept
,	O
information	B-Library
retrieval	I-Library
,	O
data	B-General_Concept
integration	I-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
in	O
the	O
astronomical	O
Virtual	B-Application
Observatory	I-Application
initiatives	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Further	O
development	O
of	O
the	O
field	O
,	O
along	O
with	O
astronomy	O
community	O
endorsement	O
,	O
was	O
presented	O
to	O
the	O
National	O
Research	O
Council	O
(	O
United	O
States	O
)	O
in	O
2009	O
in	O
the	O
Astroinformatics	B-Application
"	O
State	O
of	O
the	O
Profession	O
"	O
Position	O
Paper	O
for	O
the	O
2010	O
Astronomy	O
and	O
Astrophysics	O
Decadal	O
Survey	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
That	O
position	O
paper	O
provided	O
the	O
basis	O
for	O
the	O
subsequent	O
more	O
detailed	O
exposition	O
of	O
the	O
field	O
in	O
the	O
Informatics	O
Journal	O
paper	O
Astroinformatics	B-Application
:	O
Data-Oriented	O
Astronomy	O
Research	O
and	O
Education	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Astroinformatics	B-Application
as	O
a	O
distinct	O
field	O
of	O
research	O
was	O
inspired	O
by	O
work	O
in	O
the	O
fields	O
of	O
Bioinformatics	O
and	O
Geoinformatics	O
,	O
and	O
through	O
the	O
eScience	O
work	O
of	O
Jim	O
Gray	O
(	O
computer	O
scientist	O
)	O
at	O
Microsoft	O
Research	O
,	O
whose	O
legacy	O
was	O
remembered	O
and	O
continued	O
through	O
the	O
Jim	O
Gray	O
eScience	O
Awards	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
the	O
primary	O
focus	O
of	O
Astroinformatics	B-Application
is	O
on	O
the	O
large	O
worldwide	O
distributed	O
collection	O
of	O
digital	O
astronomical	O
databases	O
,	O
image	O
archives	O
,	O
and	O
research	O
tools	O
,	O
the	O
field	O
recognizes	O
the	O
importance	O
of	O
legacy	O
data	O
sets	O
as	O
well	O
—	O
using	O
modern	O
technologies	O
to	O
preserve	O
and	O
analyze	O
historical	O
astronomical	O
observations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
Astroinformatics	B-Application
practitioners	O
help	O
to	O
digitize	B-General_Concept
historical	O
and	O
recent	O
astronomical	O
observations	O
and	O
images	O
in	O
a	O
large	O
database	O
for	O
efficient	O
retrieval	O
through	O
web-based	O
interfaces	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Astroinformatics	B-Application
is	O
described	O
as	O
the	O
"	O
Fourth	O
Paradigm	O
"	O
of	O
astronomical	O
research	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
many	O
research	O
areas	O
involved	O
with	O
astroinformatics	B-Application
,	O
such	O
as	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
,	O
machine	O
learning	O
,	O
statistics	O
,	O
visualization	O
,	O
scientific	O
data	O
management	O
,	O
and	O
semantic	O
science	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
and	O
machine	O
learning	O
play	O
significant	O
roles	O
in	O
Astroinformatics	B-Application
as	O
a	O
scientific	O
research	O
discipline	O
due	O
to	O
their	O
focus	O
on	O
"	O
knowledge	O
discovery	O
from	O
data	O
"	O
(	O
KDD	B-Application
)	O
and	O
"	O
learning	O
from	O
data	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Consequently	O
,	O
astronomy	O
(	O
and	O
other	O
scientific	O
disciplines	O
)	O
are	O
developing	O
information-intensive	O
and	O
data-intensive	O
sub-disciplines	O
to	O
an	O
extent	O
that	O
these	O
sub-disciplines	O
are	O
now	O
becoming	O
(	O
or	O
have	O
already	O
become	O
)	O
standalone	O
research	O
disciplines	O
and	O
full-fledged	O
academic	O
programs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
many	O
institutes	O
of	O
education	O
do	O
not	O
boast	O
an	O
astroinformatics	B-Application
program	O
,	O
such	O
programs	O
most	O
likely	O
will	O
be	O
developed	O
in	O
the	O
near	O
future	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Informatics	O
has	O
been	O
recently	O
defined	O
as	O
"	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
digital	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
,	O
information	B-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
related	O
services	O
for	O
research	O
and	O
knowledge	O
generation	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Therefore	O
,	O
the	O
discipline	O
of	O
astroinformatics	B-Application
includes	O
many	O
naturally-related	O
specialties	O
including	O
data	B-Application
modeling	I-Application
,	O
data	O
organization	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
may	O
also	O
include	O
transformation	O
and	O
normalization	O
methods	O
for	O
data	B-General_Concept
integration	I-General_Concept
and	O
information	B-General_Concept
visualization	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
knowledge	O
extraction	O
,	O
indexing	O
techniques	O
,	O
information	B-Library
retrieval	I-Library
and	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
methods	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Classification	O
schemes	O
(	O
e.g.	O
,	O
taxonomies	O
,	O
ontologies	O
,	O
folksonomies	B-General_Concept
,	O
and/or	O
collaborative	B-General_Concept
tagging	I-General_Concept
)	O
plus	O
Astrostatistics	B-Algorithm
will	O
also	O
be	O
heavily	O
involved	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Citizen	O
science	O
projects	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
Galaxy	O
Zoo	O
)	O
also	O
contribute	O
highly	O
valued	O
novelty	O
discovery	O
,	O
feature	O
meta-tagging	O
,	O
and	O
object	O
characterization	O
within	O
large	O
astronomy	O
data	O
sets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2012	O
,	O
two	O
position	O
papers	O
were	O
presented	O
to	O
the	O
Council	O
of	O
the	O
American	O
Astronomical	O
Society	O
that	O
led	O
to	O
the	O
establishment	O
of	O
formal	O
working	O
groups	O
in	O
Astroinformatics	B-Application
and	O
Astrostatistics	B-Algorithm
for	O
the	O
profession	O
of	O
astronomy	O
within	O
the	O
US	O
and	O
elsewhere	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Astroinformatics	B-Application
provides	O
a	O
natural	O
context	O
for	O
the	O
integration	O
of	O
education	O
and	O
research	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
has	O
many	O
other	O
uses	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
repurposing	O
archival	O
data	O
for	O
new	O
projects	O
,	O
literature-data	O
links	O
,	O
intelligent	O
retrieval	O
of	O
information	B-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
many	O
others	O
.	O
</s>
