Week 8 - Information Quality 18/09/2007

In our lecture of week eight, the subject we covered was Information Quality. Some of the key points from the lecture were :


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- Information quality is a multi-dimensional concept (Klein, 2001).


-Commonly described as data that is "fit-for-use" (Wang & Strong, 1996).


Information Quality context : The World Wide Web


Open Protocols on the World Wide Web allow information to be :

• easily exchanged





• accessed by anyone with access to a computer
  

The open architecture of the WWW also influences information quality because :

• Information has no quality control enforced





• Information has no enforced classification
  

Information Quality in relation to the WW
Information on the WWW can be written by anyone, therefore there is no control on who publishes information. This relates to the information's authority, authorship and authenticy.

• Bias, accuracy and trustworthiness of the information is often at doubt due to the fact that anyone can publish anything without a purpose





• Information in relation to currency, reliability and coverage can also be affected because we cannot tell who is publishing what on the WWW and how long ago they published the information.
  

Evaluating Information on the WWW

If information on the WWW if not evaluated as authentic and authorised, can sometimes affect its quality. Evaluating information on the WWW involves principles to be put to test. These principles include of:

1. consider what you are measuring?





2. why does the information resource exist in the first place?





3. is the information "fit-for-use"?
   

Issues regarding Information Quality on the WWW

Information quality on the WWW can raise some issues. Such issues include of :

• Authority





• Accuracy





• Objectivity





• Currency and





• Coverage

This was a summary of our lecture in Week 8.

Workshop Activities:

When visiting a webpage, there are certain questions that you need to ask yourself before accepting what you see on the website. These questions can help you evaluate the website and get you the information that you are looking for.

When looking for information from a website, always ask yourself these questions and try finding the answers from the website you view before accepting information from the website. These questions include of :

- Are you in the right place?
- Do you think the source is valid?
- Do you know what is happening in that website?
- Do the details in the website look clear and concise to you?
- What is so unique and good about that website from other web pages on the web?

Furthermore, you should also use certain criterias that can help you evaluate your website as a good or bad source of information. These criterias are:

- Authority
- Accuracy
- Objectivity
- Currency
- Coverage and
- Value


Below is a print screen showing where I summarised my information above from.



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Below is a summary of each of the above criteria's relation to the source of information being viewed.

Authority - Who is the writer of a certain page and what expertise or authority do they have to write that page?

Accuracy - Do you feel that the information shown on the webpage is factual and accurate?

Objectivity - Why has this certain author written this webpage?
- What is his point and what message is he trying to get to you?

Currency - How old is this source of information? When was it last updated and viewed? How current is this webpage?

Coverage - Does this webpage cover the subjects that you are looking for?
- Does the webpage have the correct content that is related to your subject of information?
- What style of literature is the webpage using? Is the language formal (academic or scholarly) or informal?

Value - Were you able to say that the webpage you visited was worth the effort and time to visit?
- Was this webpage free of common errors such as grammar mistakes and spelling errors?
- Did this webpage offer you anything informative?
- Did you find this webpage unique from other webpages?
- Was this webpage valuable in that you felt there were no grammatical errors that could have made it hard for you to absorb the information you read?



Below is a screen shot showing the above information wrapped up as brief dot points.


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Readings:


Each week, apart from having lectures and tutorials (workshops), we get readings on topics discussed in the lecture and workshops. These readings help us furthermore in our understanding of our topics. Week eight's readings are on the evaluation of websites and information on the World Wide Web.



The first reading comes from the website - http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/help/critical/

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This website discusses some points to consider when looking at a website. Some key points outlined in this website include of :

Content & Evaluation:

• Who is the audience?



• What is the purpose of the web page?


• Why was this webpage created?



• Are the links and information provided accurate?



• What is so good about this website and its information in contrast to other website on the same topic?



• To what depth is the coverage?



• Is multimedia appropriately incorporated?


• From instincts, is the webpage valuable?

Source & Date:

• Who is the author or producer?



• From what authority or expertise was the website created?



• How knowledgeable is the writer of the webpage?



• Is any type of bias evident in the information provided?



• When was the website last updated/reviewed?



• Are the links up to date?



• Is contact information about the writer provided in the website?

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Structure:

• Does the website follow good graphic design principles?



• Do the graphics serve a purpose in relation to content or are they for decorative purposes?



• Does the text appear to be grammatically incorrect?



• How usable is the site? (can users get the information they need from the minimal number of links?)
  

Other:

• Is appropriate interactivity available?



• How secure is the website when wanting to send confidential information through the site? ( i.e. does a secure coding system exist?)



• Are there links to a search engine?
  

The above points were disccused on the this website. These points discussed should be kept in mind when evaluating a website and its content in order to get the best information for use.

The next reading on the topic of Evaluating websites, comes from the website below.

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/webcrit.html

Below is a screen shot of the website itself.

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In this website, five criterias of evaluating webpages are discussed. These five criterias are:

Accuracy:

• Who wrote the page and can you contact him/her?



• What is the purpose of the document and why was it produced?



• Is the writer qualified to write the website with the information he/she has provided?

Authority:

• Who published the website?



• Are the qualifications of the writer provided?



• What institution has published the document? (check domain)

Objectivity:

• What goals/objectives does the page meet?



• How detailed is the information?



• What opinions are expressed by the writer? (if any)

Currency:

• When was it produced?



• When was it updated?



• How up to date are the links? (if any)

Coverage:

• Are the links evaluated and complement the document's theme?



• Is it all images or a balance of text and images?



• Is the information presented cited correctly?

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