ArticleRead (12): The credibility of volunteered geographic information

The credibility of volunteered geographic information, By Andrew J. Flanagin and Miriam J. Metzger, in GeoJournal (2008) 72:137–148

The study of Flanagin and Metzger (2008) was to exam the issues of information and source credibility in the context of volunteered geographic environment (VGI).

VGI with its similar concepts such as GIS/2, neogeography, or ‘‘geography without geographers’’ has been regarded as an extension of public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS); collaborative GIS; participatory GIS; Community Integrated GIS (CIGIS) to the general public. While the advance of social computing has parallel effects on the production and availability of user-generated geo data, the need to re-conceptualize the traditional definitions of information and source credibility has been proposed here.

The credibility of VGI is strongly suggestive based on two concepts from Goodchild(2007)'s "humans as sensors" as well as the perspective of social science which the credibility is "a subjective perception on the part of the information receiver". In contrast, the credibility of VGI taken from the notion of "credibility-as-perception" is functioned as the relatively objective properties of information, rather than "a subjective perception" while compared with the traditional geo information formed by a few individual authority perceptions.

The overall recommendations for the credibility judgments of VGI are listed eight points in the figure below. Research directions such as: on the user motivations; "credibility transfer" phenomena (geo data has been perceived more objective than other forms of user-generated data); market implications; measurement issues (e.g. the provenance of VGI); or the effects of VGI on the social, educational, and political contexts are suggested.

ArticleRead (11): Assertion and authority: the science of user-generated geographic content

Assertion and authority: the science of user-generated geographic content. By M.F. Goodchild (2008) Proceedings of the Colloquium for Andrew U. Frank's 60th Birthday. GeoInfo 39. Department of Geoinformation and Cartography, Vienna University of Technology.

Goodchild's article examines what user-generated geo information (volunteered geographic information/ VGI) are different from traditional & professional geo information. The main assumption Goodchild has proposed is that the individual is similar to an expert in the geography of his or her activity space, based on the concept of individual geographic familiarity. The geo production contributed by general people (neo-explorers who mainly take the inductive role ) are in the levels of raw data observations and information for specific use, while the level of geo knowledge are produced by professionals (taking both inductive and deductive roles of empiricism) through theories, models, and formal procedures conducting analytic capabilities and functions.

As the traditional data quality can be controlled by the authority of mapping agencies through formal spefifications, production mechanisms, and programs or project control, Goodchild suggests two mechanisms for VIG quality control. First, he notes the value of local expertise in the sense of community mapping while national mapping agencies ignore them in the mapping and editing process. Second, he offers a structure of data editing process by building several hierarchy of editor levels based on the use of local expertise to exam the data quality. As a better framework through semiotic analysis can provide a systematic structure of this issue, we close our review with a table utilizing semiotics to fully understand the potentials and implications of this article.

ArticleRead (8) :Information as sign: semiotics and information science

Information as sign: semiotics and information science, By Douglas Raber & John M. Budd, Journal of Documentation, 2003, 59, 5, pp.507-522

By the definition of Linguistic Sign from Fernand de Saussure (1959), Raber and Budd (2003) try to define information in two parts as “Text” and “Content” in parallel with Saussure’s sign (Signifier and Signified). Table 1 shows how Raber and Budd taking information as Saussure’s linguistic Sign. Table 2 illustrates why semiotics can be applied in information science.

Table 1: Information as Saussure’s Sign

Table 2: Information Science and Semiotics

Note: This review was mainly completed as a homework while taking the Humanity Informatics Class lectured by Professor Ching-Chun Hsieh in Jan. 2007.

ArticleRead (7): Four Ethical Issues of the Information Age.

Four Ethical Issues of the Information Age. By Richard O. Mason., MIS Quarterly, Vol.10 No.1,pp.5-12. Mar., 1986

Ever since Mason (1986) proposed to apply Privacy, Accuracy, Property and Accessibility (PAPA) to be the guiding principles of ethical issues in the information age, PAPA has been used widely in studies such as human behavior and information technology; information management, organization science, as well as the foundation of information security system designs. PAPA was ahead in its time, and still remains great impacts for us to take a profound thinking today by its three basic questions raised in the article:

1. Whether the kind of society being created is the one we want?
2. Should we pay sepcial concern on the PAPA issues since we are in the forefront of creating this new society?
3. Although information shape the intellectual capital, the weakness of building intellectual capital is that people's intellectual capital will decrease:

• whenever they lose their personal information without being compensated for it,
• when they are precluded access to information which is of value to them,
• when they have revealed information they hold intimate, or
• when they find out that the information upon which their living depends is in error.

Problems and Issues have been identified in table1; the final “should” and “should not” with some cases analysis for PAPA guiding principles are proposed in table 2. Until today, we have seen how information technology progress has been phenomenal. We also have been challenged by information ethical crisis we never had before. Could it be that a balance between human sentiment, issues of law and justice, and moral or ethical concerns emerged within PAPA of information age, we are still in the process of wondering, indeed.

Table1: Issues and Problems of PAPA


Table2: A question of Should or Should Not

Note: This review was mainly completed as a homework while taking the Humanity Informatics Class lectured by Professor Ching-Chun Hsieh in May 2007.

ArticleRead (3): A Definition of Information

A Definition of Information , By A.D. Madden, Aslib Proceedings vol. 52, No.9, p.343-, 2000.10.

In his article A.D. Madden has drawn some attention to the interpretation of information in the aspect of context.

After reviewing literatures defining information: as a representation of knowledge; as data in the environment; as part of the communication process; as a resource or commodity, the author has an attempt to further defining “information” in a perspective of “informing contexts”.

Three major elements in his Information-in-Context Model are defined as: “authorial context” which is a message being originated, “readership context” which is a message being received and interpreted, as well as “the message” which is the information being transmitted.

The idea of taking information reception and interpretation within personal and community paradigms in social-cultural contexts is valuable for most understating of the definition of information. However, the author rephrases the definition of information for the context-reliant model of information reception in the conclusion without clear explanation about “stimulus”, “system” and “system relationship” . The rephrases of the definition makes the information more blur in the end.

The general idea of Madden’s definition of information can be summarized as the figure shown.

Note: This review was mainly completed as a homework while taking the Humanity Informatics Class lectured by Professor Ching-Chun Hsieh in December 2006.