Instructor: Don Fallis
Office: SIRLS 14
Office Hours: Wednesdays 3:00-4:00 and by appointment
Telephone: 621-5223
E-mail: fallis@email.arizona.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

ãIt is not enough that information is readily available; before relying on any data or information, it may be important to ascertain, for example, the veracity of the contentä ö Peter Hernon

Note: This course will be taught via the Internet.  For more information, see below or contact Don Fallis.

MORE INFORMATION ON COURSE CONTENT:

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 the accuracy of the information is not essential.)

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 example, David Hume "On Miracles"). We will look at some of the answers that have been proposed by information scientists, philosophers, and economists.

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 information professionals (i.e., the organizers and disseminators of information) be concerned with the problem of determining the accuracy of information?  The reason is that information professionals are in a unique position to help the retriever to determine whether or not a piece of information is accurate (and perhaps bear some responsibility to do so). In particular, information professionals can work to make information more verifiable. In other words, they can organize and disseminate information in such a way that it is easier for the retriever to determine whether or not the information is accurate.

Note: Making a piece of information more 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.

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 example, "Your New Currency: The New $100 Note").

The ultimate goal of this course is to figure out how to make information more verifiable. This will involve at least two subsidiary tasks. The first task is to look at how people should 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 in general (such as currency). This will teach us some valuable lessons which can be applied to the specific task of making information more 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 easy for just anyone to create and publish documents--without the interference of publishers, editiors, and journal referees who might insist on checking the accuracy of the information. As a result, there is a lot of inaccurate information on the Internet. In this brave new world, information professionals should be working very hard to make it easier for people to verify the accuracy of information.

Maxim:

It is 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.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
 

Final Project	25%
Group Presentation	20%
Midterm	25%
Short Assignments	20%
Participation	10%

READINGS:

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

FURTHER INFORMATION:

IMPORTANT! This syllabus is subject to addition and modification.

This course will be delivered using WebCT.

This class will have a listserv: IRLS622-791@listserv.arizona.edu. Please subscribe (see Subscription Information for instructions).

LINKS:

WebCT

How to Make Information on the Internet More Verifiable

Code of Academic Integrity

SIRLS Computer Requirements