Library Science
Course Description -- Course Requirements -- Course Schedule -- Assignments
Whenever an individual retrieves a document, there are a number of properties that she wants that document to have. For instance, she wants the document to contain information that is of interest to her, she wants the document to be easy to read, she wants the document to be organized so that she can easily find the information that is of interest to her, etc. Some of these properties that the retriever of the document wants the document to have are essential to her and some are not. One property that is almost always essential to the retriever of the document is that the information contained in the document be accurate. (Of course, there are a lot of cases, such as when an individual retrieves a work of fiction, where accuracy of the information is not essential.)
So how can the retriever of a document determine whether or not the document has this essential property? In other words, how can the retriever of a document determine whether or not the information contained in the document is accurate? A lot has been written about how people should go about deciding whether or not a piece of information is accurate (see, for instance, Hume, David, "On Miracles", in An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, http://www.utm.edu:80/research/hume/wri/1enq/1enq-10.htm). Even though it will not be the main focus of this course (see below), we will look at some of the proposed answers to this question.
Of course, when all is said and done, it is up to the retriever of a document to determine whether or not the information contained in the document is accurate. So, why should we as information professionals (i.e., the organizers, archivists, disseminators, etc. of information) be concerned with the problem of determining the accuracy of information? We could verify the accuracy of the information and assure the retriever that the information is accurate. But if the retriever is worried about the accuracy of the information, doesn't it stand to reason that she will be worried about the reliability of our testimony as well? We could teach the retriever the skills that she needs in order to determine whether or not the information is accurate. But wouldn't it be easier to just send her over to take a course in Logic and Critical Thinking in the Department of Philosophy?
So, I ask again, why should we as information professionals be concerned with the problem of determining the accuracy of information? The reason is that we are in a unique position to help the retriever to determine whether or not a piece of information is accurate (and perhaps we bear some responsibility to do so). In particular, we can work to make information more easily verifiable. In other words, we can organize, archive, disseminate, etc. information in such a way that it is easier for the retriever to determine whether or not the information is accurate. (Notice, by the way, that making a piece of information more easily verifiable is not at all the same as making it more accurate. A piece of information is verifiable if it is easy to check whether or not it is accurate.) Consider the following analogous problem.
Determining whether or not a piece of information is accurate is a special case of determining whether or not something is what it pretends to be. For example, if someone hands you a $100 bill in order to purchase a painting of Elvis on black velvet at your garage sale, then you have the problem of determining whether or not that $100 bill is what it pretends to be. In other words, you have to determine whether the $100 bill is real or counterfeit. When all is said and done, it is up to you to determine whether the $100 bill is real or counterfeit. However, you are fortunate in that the Department of the Treasury is highly motivated to make this task as easy for you as possible (see, for instance, "United States Treasury $100 Information Page", http://www.treas.gov/currency/hundred.html).
The main focus of this course will be on how we can go about making information more easily verifiable (just as the Department of the Treasury goes about making it easier to authenticate U. S. currency). Finding out how to make information more easily verifiable will involve at least two subsidiary tasks. The first task is to look at how people actually go about deciding whether or not a piece of information is accurate. This will put us in a better position to pinpoint exactly where the difficulties are and how we can best help these people out. The second task is to look at how people have gone about making it easier to authenticate stuff other than information (such as currency). This will teach us some valuable lessons which can be applied to the specific task of making information more easily verifiable (see Maxim).
Finally, it should be pointed out that being able to determine whether or not a piece of information is accurate is especially pressing in the era of the internet and the electronic document. It is almost too easy for just anyone to create and publish documents (and without the interference of pesky publishers and journal referees who might insist on checking the accuracy of the information). Also, with new technologies, it is fairly easy to forge documents (not to mention counterfeiting $100 bills). In this brave new world, information professionals should be working very hard to make it easier to verify the accuracy of information.
It is usually wasted effort to try to reinvent the wheel. In fact, those people who do try to reinvent the wheel more often than not end up with a less than optimal wheel.
(More details on each of these requirements will appear soon.)
| Participation | 30% |
| Final Project | 30% |
| Midterm | 20% |
| Short Assignments | 20% |
(This schedule, especially Part 3, is subject to addition and modification.)
Part 1: What is verifiable information? And why is it a good thing?
Part 2: What do people have to do to verify that a piece of information is accurate?
Part 3: What can the producers/disseminators of information do to make verification easier?
1. Deductive versus Inductive Evidence
Evidence is typically divided into two categories. Namely, I might have deductive evidence for my belief that the earth is round or I might have inductive evidence. This distinction is relevant to our goal in this class. However, I did not include a reading which has information about what deductive evidence is and what inductive evidence is. Your assignment is to find this information on the web.
Note that an individual (such as yourself) who wants a piece of information has two tasks. First, he or she has to find the relevant information. Second, he or she has to determine whether or not the information is accurate.
Assignment: Find at least one relevant web site and send the URL to SIRLS588@listserv.arizona.edu. Also, if you determine that the information is accurate, include in your message an explanation of how you came to that conclusion. Similarly, if you determine that the information is not accurate, include an explanation of how you came to that conclusion. Finally, send your message on or before Thursday, February 5th.
TEXTS:
There is no textbook for this course. There will be three sources of readings for this course. First, a coursepacket will be available at the University of Arizona Bookstore. Second, links to online readings will be available on this syllabus. Third, a few readings will probably be placed on reserve in the library.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
This class will have a listserv (SIRLS588@listserv.arizona.edu). Please subscribe. It will be used to transfer information between the participants in the course. POLIS (Project for On-Line Instructional Support) will be used as a medium for electronic discussion in this class. Click here to go to the POLIS homepage for this course. There you will find links to instructions for using POLIS.
LINKS:
Please send comments and suggestions about this home page to the Webmaster.
This document was last updated on March 2, 1998.
http://www.sir.arizona.edu/sp98/588/