A question to start the post:
What is the impact of poor information quality and how to overcome it?
[ DEFINITION ]
Information Quality is the availability of reliable, accurate, and up-to-date information. (Diss.fu-berlin.de, 2017)
WHAT CAUSES POOR INFORMATION QUALITY?
Source: Chin Yu Ying (The photo above shows the screenshots of Google and Facebook personalized search.)
Filter Bubble
Filter bubbles help people deal with a large amount of data through sorting
the data according to their interest. The likes or dislikes of users are guessed by algorithms which apply personalized search. Sometimes this may cause over personalization when they try to avoid content overload.
Over personalization means that the browser will show data that it thinks user likes, and this may cause the user to miss some important information, which reduces the reliability of information of the user.
(Ijecs.in, 2016)
HOW TO OVERCOME FILTER BUBBLES?
Source: ijecs.in, Graphics: Chin Yu Ying
FAKE NEWS
They can come in many forms:
- Doctored photo of an accident
- Hyperbolic report about an election
- Click-baiting headlines designed to mislead
Here’s a step-by-step tutorial to stop fake news from The Straits Times:
(YUEN-C, 2017)
HOW TO ENSURE THE INFORMATION WE OBTAIN IS OF GOOD QUALITY?
According to Research Gate, it is said that in order to effectively use the information, Information System managers must understand these dimensions as shown below:
Source: (Researchgate, 2015), Graphics: (Chin Yu Ying, 2017)
CONCLUSION
To sum up, it is important for users like us to be observant enough to look out for unreliable sources, as well as preventing oneself to fall into the prey of “filter bubbles”. (Although most of the Internet users are victims to it)
Personally, although filter bubbles have its pros and cons, the Internet should not hide anything from the users as it will cause the information users obtained to be unreliable/not credible, in terms of assignments and research.
What are your views?
Word Count: 308
Living and Working on the Web 
Hi Yu Ying,
I agree with you that individuals are responsible to look out for information that are reliable and authentic. Having articles online serves as a guide for individuals to be more aware of what they are in for. However, I beg to differ on the point “the Internet should not hide anything from the users as it will cause the information users obtained to be unreliable/not credible”.
I feel that internet is not hiding anything from the user. It’s just the way how individual uses keywords to search for information. I feel that individuals are responsible to expand their knowledge within their own “bubble”. Individual should not be constraint by the information found within one search. And in their effort to expand their knowledge, they should constantly look up for more information to feed their brain and to have similar multiple results to clarify the result’s reliability.
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Hi Hui Lin,
Thanks for expressing your view so that I can “see” from another viewpoint!
I agree to your point where you said that individual should not be constraint by the information found within one search, and should constantly look up for more information to to determine the credibility. But besides using Internet just for research purpose, people might also miss out the opportunity for their desired job due to filter bubbles! What are your views on this?
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You got a point there. Nowadays, filter system can be found within many websites including job search website.
In my opinion, this enable us to find the best-matched jobs rather than to filter out our opportunities.
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