Assessment of the reliability of the information from Internet
The article is devoted to identifying and describing possible criteria of the reliability of Internet information. Along with such a criterion of reliability as the truth of information, it is proposed to evaluate its correctness and constructiveness. It is also proposed to consider as a criterion of reliability: 1) understanding of information by its author; 2) interpretation of the facts presented; 3) logical criteria and 4) methods of obtaining information by the source. The originality of this work is the design and implementation of a tool that allows approaching the inconsistencies between declarative data and data close to the decisions made when in action. In so doing, we argue that we need to distinguish content and pedigree criteria of reliability and that we need to separate issues of reliability of information from the issues of the accessibility and the usability of information. The Internet is a self-regulating complex system in which users decide what is relevant through their actions. Since the burden of locating and evaluating information depends on knowledge, experience, and skill, this study rigorously and holistically investigates the Web users’ experience. Similarly, the web poses profound and unexpected challenges to stakeholders. These include average consumers who are left to their own devices to extract needed information for decision making in an environment that is difficult to master and not always safe (Internet Safety Resources, 2013). The Internet has continuously been expanding the nature and scope of traditional information systems. In such systems, the quality of information is evaluated and controlled by the organization. For example, the quality of databases is guarded by the enterprise, and news quality is regulated by gatekeepers before it is published. The Internet, in contrast, is an unregulated global system that exerts no control over the quality of its data. People use it because it offers many advantages including access to the largest centralized source of information, real-time communication to global audiences and the ability to publish at almost no cost. Professionals, who had been working thus far independently in their own disciplines, are finding themselves sharing the same web space with others. This raises the broader issue of whether a unification of knowledge would prove useful and, at the same time, help to better understand and utilize the medium.