[Air-l] verifying onlline information

[Denise N. Rall]

Dear Aoir's -

I include this citation, the metastudy I mentioned
because there seemed to be some interest in the topic:

Klein, B. D. (2001). "User perceptions of data
quality: Internet and traditional text sources."
Journal of Computer Information Systems Summer(2001):
9-15.

She has summarized in this paper an analysis of
"fifteen dimensions of data quality."

However, I don't see the real problems coming forth in
this discussion -

1) user perceptions of quality - but what's that -
users could have some cr*p idea of what is quality;
yet the website (information source) in question
serves their needs
2) problems of validating and securing "real" online
information - credit card no's, etc. as mentioned here
vs.
3) search engine algorithms & data mining techniques
to ensure that what users request is what the SE
delivers - BUT - if users ask an uninformed question -
are there checks and balances?
4) ensuring that web-based data falls into the same
types of rigorous enquiry as information from other
sources.
5) testing of the hypothesis - is this good data or
not? that seems to escape most users as an important
part of the process . . . . 

Denise


	

=====
"it's easier to use your mouse than your brain"
Denise Rall, Sustainable Forestry Mentoring Coordinator &
PhD student, School of Education, Southern Cross University,
PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW, 2480 Australia
Phone +61-2-6624-8627 Fax +61-2-6624-8637
Office (Tuesdays) (02) 6620 3577 Mob 0438 233 344
http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/edu/research/deniserall/index.html

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