Understanding Information Quality Standards and their Challenges

最发达的后工业社会依靠信息生活，信息和通信技术使它们保持氧气。因此，信息交换的质量越好，这样的社会就越有可能繁荣。但是什么是信息质量（IQ）呢？这是一个关键而紧迫的问题，但到目前为止，我们的答案并不令人满意。在美国，2000年颁布的《信息质量法案》（Information Quality Act）对大多数关键概念都没有定义。因此，它要求管理和预算办公室“颁布指导方针，以确保联邦机构传播的信息（包括统计信息）的质量、客观性、实用性和完整性”。不出所料，这些指导方针受到了很多批评，此后一直在进行审查。在英国，处理智商问题的一些最持久的努力与医疗保健系统有关。2001年，肯尼迪报告承认：“所有的医疗保健都是信息驱动的，因此与信息贫乏相关的威胁是对医疗保健服务质量和NHS管理的直接风险。”然而，在2004年，NHS信息质量保证咨询强调，“信息和数据质量的考虑变得更加复杂，因为人们普遍认为信息/数据质量有许多不同的方面，但对于这些方面是什么没有明确的共识”。缺乏对IQ标准（如可访问性、准确性、可用性、完整性、流通性、完整性、冗余性、可靠性、及时性、可信赖性、可用性等）的清晰和精确的理解会导致代价高昂的错误、混乱、僵局和错失机会。部分困难在于构建分析和评价它们所需的正确概念和技术框架。已经采取了一些措施来纠正这种情况。首届资讯质素国际会议于1996年举行。2006年，计算机协会推出了新的《数据与信息质量杂志》。数据质量峰会现在为研究信息质量战略提供了一个国际论坛。开创性的调查和研究方案解决了应用问题、合理的方案和最佳做法的编纂。因此，有大量可用的结果可能会产生影响。然而，这些结果的影响有限，因为有关智商的研究未能将理论和实践结合起来。此外，在促进学术成果和技术专门知识的增值综合方面所做的工作还不够。该知识转移项目旨在通过将信息哲学领域的首席研究员（PI）与主要信息服务提供商谷歌UK的专业知识结合起来，将理论健全和技术可行的研究之间的差距缩小。了解信息的本质、质量和动态是PI在过去十年中信息哲学学术研究的核心。知识转移涉及PI最近的三本著作和几篇研究论文（见相关出版物列表中带有星号的文本），这些论文综合了他对信息哲学的研究（见简历中的研究影响）。分享和补充现有的知识体系，将其应用于智商的分析和评估，并与b谷歌UK在信息管理方面的技术专长相结合，将对建立国际智商标准产生重大影响。该项目将在两个迄今尚未成功互动的社区和文化之间架起一座桥梁，从而实现双向的专业知识共享，从而增加双方知识的价值（附加性）。

The most developed post-industrial societies live by information, and Information and Communication Technologies keep them oxygenated. So the better the quality of the information exchanged, the more likely such societies may prosper. But what is information quality (IQ) exactly? This is a crucial and pressing question but, so far, our answers have been less than satisfactory. In the United States, the Information Quality Act, enacted in 2000, left undefined most key concepts. So it required the Office of Management and Budget 'to promulgate guidance to agencies ensuring the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information (including statistical information) disseminated by Federal agencies'. Unsurprisingly, the guidelines have received much criticism and have been under review ever since. In the UK, some of the most sustained efforts in dealing with IQ issues have concerned the health care system. In 2001, the Kennedy Report acknowledged that: 'All health care is information driven, so the threat associated with poor information is a direct risk to the quality of healthcare service and governance in the NHS'. However, in 2004, the NHS Information Quality Assurance Consultation stressed that 'Consideration of information and data quality are made more complex by the general agreement that there are a number of different aspects to information/data quality but no clear agreement as to what these are'. Lacking a clear and precise understanding of IQ standards (such as accessibility, accuracy, availability, completeness, currency, integrity, redundancy, reliability, timeliness, trustworthiness, usability, and so forth) causes costly errors, confusion, impasse and missed opportunities. Part of the difficulty lies in constructing the right conceptual and technical framework necessary to analyse and evaluate them. Some steps have been taken to rectify the situation. The first International Conference on Information Quality was organised in 1996. In 2006, the Association of Computing Machinery launched the new Journal of Data and Information Quality. The Data Quality Summit now provides an international forum for the study of information quality strategies. Pioneering investigations and research programmes have addressed applied issues, plausible scenarios and the codification of best practices. So there is a wealth of available results that could make a difference. However, such results have had limited impact because research concerning IQ has failed to combine and cross-fertilise theory and practice. Furthermore, insufficient work has been done to promote the value-adding synthesis of academic findings and technological know-how. This knowledge transfer project seeks to bridge the gap between theoretically sound and technologically feasible studies, by bringing together the epistemological and ethical research, developed by the Principal Investigator (PI) in the philosophy of information, with the know-how of a major information service provider, Google UK. Understanding the nature of information, its qualities and dynamics has been at the core of the PI's academic research in the philosophy of information during the past decade. The knowledge transfer concerns the PI's three most recent book and several research papers (see asterisked texts in the list of relevant publications), which synthesise his studies on the philosophy of information (see CV for research impact). Sharing and complementing this existing body of knowledge, applying it to the analysis and evaluation of IQ, and enhancing it with Google UK's technical expertise in information management will make a significant difference in establishing international IQ standards. The project will build a bridge between two communities and cultures that, so far, have not interacted successfully, leading to a two-way sharing of expertise thatwill increase the value of each partner's knowledge (additionality).