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The information professions are in the field of information-related
disciplines that are concerned of collecting, recording, storing, documenting,
preserving, retrieving, presenting and disseminating information on various
subject matters and in various contexts either in printed or in digital forms. The
social purpose of collecting, organizing and disseminating information outlines all
the activities of information-related disciplines, so they should care with the
cognitive authority because it gives credibility, authenticity and reliability to the
information they have disseminated to the public. The concept of cognitive
authority is significant in the information professions because it obliges them to
be doubtful towards any information being sought. It forces them to consider the
criteria that they should use when evaluating the information sources. Wilson
considers the theory of cognitive authority as one of the quality control
components in information retrieval. For instance, in any area in which a body
of literature is produced, we can expect to find (at least) two different kinds of
cognitive authority: authority in the area, the kind of authority claimed by
practitioners and producers of the literature, and authority on the literature
produced, a kind that can be acquired without being a practitioner in the area at
all.
Rieh on his study validates Wilson’s theory of cognitive authority by
demonstrating the information seekers specifically the Web searchers who made
judgments of quality and authority of information primarily based on their
knowledge (domain knowledge, system knowledge), in addition to characteristics
of sources (URL domain, type, reputation, single-collective, author/creator
credentials) and characteristics of information objects (type, title, content,
organization/structure, presentation, graphics, functionality), so information
professions should consider also that cognitive authority in a given field of
knowledge depends on the paradigm of the information seekers, their reasons or
bases of judging the authority of the information. Whatever their reasons are,
other people or materials deserve cognitive authority. People may not be able to
describe their reasons on a quantitatively measurable scale. People can only
justify their assessment of authority by citing indirect bases. That is why it is
very important for the information professions to give importance and to learn to
be more critical of the concept of cognitive authority. Authority is considered
authentic only within the boundaries of the community of the information
seekers. In some cases, there are pieces of information that are reliable in a
certain community, but not for the others. Authority states also that creators of
the sources of information have qualifications and institutional affiliations that
match with the expectations of a given disciplinary community. It does not mean
that if they have greater authority, there is already a guarantee of the quality of
the information. Even if they will find authoritative sources of information, it may
not consider as reliable if the sources of information are not recognized by the
disciplinary communities.
The information professionals can gain cognitive authority through working
alongside academics: they are more influential when seen to be collaborating
with academics, and when their contribution is visibly endorsed by academics,
than when they appear to work in isolation. It is also important to work with the
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experts of their chosen field in order for the information presented to be credible
to the information seekers.
By means of cognitive authority that is given importance in the information
professions, we, as information seekers who are interested in information and in
searching of information are enlightened in how information science, libraries,
archives and all the information-related disciplines are viewed. We can better
understand the requirements of information collection, organization, storage and
retrieval. Since there is a growing number of information disciplines available
every now and then, we need also a closer and deeper look at what is
distinctive about these disciplines in relation to the other information presented
and disseminated by the other information professionals; however, it depends to
us, the information seekers to what information we have recognized as credible
because sometimes there are some information seekers who blindly accept
information which are not really credible , no scientific bases and probably
unreliable since those are coming from so called experts of their chosen fields.
As a general understanding of what information is, we can assume that
information exists both subjectively and objectively: subjectively as our human
experience of novelty, learning, emotion, perception, etc., and objectively, as
pattern of organization of matter and energy, the marks that take up the pages
of books, or the electronic ones and zeroes that exist in digitized information
stores.
Furthermore, information professions manage the record of our culture for
all its uses, from entertainment and education to preservation for future
generations. It is already considerable that they produce knowledge of general
academic value; however, aside from the cognitive authority that they have
considered before disseminating the information, they have also considered some
aspects of doing the information tasks. First, services and functions that
represent the very essence of the work of the information professions. These
include some form or other of appraising, collecting, organizing, storing,
retrieving, disseminating, and working with users of the recorded or embedded
information being managed. Second, the information itself which is the essence
of all information related disciplines whether it is printed or electronic based,
whether academic research literature, company records, or popular entertainment
in recorded form. The third aspect is the institution that stores the resources of
information just like the libraries, archives and museums. These have become
large and important physical, social and administrative presences in society.
Fourth is the information technology for organizing, storing and retrieving the
information using computers and electronic devices just like smartphones and
tablets. Lastly, management and policy. In any activity in which there are large
physical plants, large bodies of information and lots of people working, it is
important to develop policies, including ethical principles, at the societal and local
level, and find ways to manage both the physical store and the people working
with that store
.Thus, information professions should care on cognitive authority to ensure
authenticity, credibility and reliability of the information being collected, recorded,
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stored, documented, preserved, retrieved, presented and disseminated to the
information seekers with different disciplinary communities.
Nowadays, with the advent of different technologies, information is not only
presented and disseminated through printed materials but also through internet
sources that vary widely in their authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency and
coverage of information. As information seekers, we should bear in our mind
that not all information we have sought are reliable so just like the information
professionals we must evaluate and we must be critical in considering the
appropriateness of all types of information sources in relation to whatever
information which are useful to us. We cannot deny the fact that internet
sources have already surpassed the quantity of information available in most
libraries, but these do not surpassed the quality of information available in the
libraries, so we must be critical in identifying the distinctions of gathering
information from both online and printed sources since it is our responsibility as
information seekers. We must consider that many publications have a particular
bias or agenda, which may not be obvious at first glance of the provided
information. It is up to us to assess whether or not the materials we find have
been written by an authority on the subject. It is good to note that even if an
author is an expert in one field, he may not have expertise in another field, so
for us to ensure authenticity, credibility and reliability of the information, Taylor’s
Value- Added Model is a great help. This model explains why various systems
and system features are beneficial and desirable to achieve our needs as
information users. It also explains what we want, as users of information, why
we want them and how systems are able to meet (or not meet) those needs.
The framework of this model includes three elements such as, user criteria of
choice, interface (value-added) and system (value -added processes). First, the
user criteria of choice includes the broad categories of criteria that are important
to users in choosing a system or in evaluating how well a system performs.
These criteria include ease of use, noise reduction, quality, adaptability, time-
saving and cost-saving; however, these criteria are not absolute or fixed. The
relative priority of one or another criteria will depend on the person, situation,
needs, setting and other user-centered aspects. Second, Interface (Values
Added). It includes the more specific values that are added in order to best
meet the user criteria of choice. For example, accuracy, comprehensiveness,
currency, reliability and validity all can contribute to meeting the user’s criterion
which is “Quality.” The user’s criterion, “Noise Reduction” relates to values of
access, linkages, precision and selectivity; and third, System. (Value-added
processes). These are the processes, features and elements of the system that
add to the related values identified in the interface which in turn meet the user
criteria. For example, the processes of quality control, editing, updating and
analyzing may contribute to the values-added of accuracy, comprehensiveness,
currency, reliability and validity which then combine to address the user criterion
of Quality. Through the help of Taylor’s Value Added Model, Library and
Information System and other fields of information have developed intellectual
technologies to ensure the authenticity, authority and reliability of information
being sought by the information seekers or users. These intellectual technologies
are in relation to the third element of the Value added Model which is the
System (Value-Added Processes). These are indexing, vocabulary control,
filtering, quality control, editing, updating, analyzing and comparing data, provision
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of data manipulation capabilities, ranking output for relevance and others
intellectual technologies which are continuously used and developed. Another
technology is the IA (Information Architect). It makes up the logical structure of
a website. It looks at the needs of the users and it presents the visual and
interaction design according to the user experience, making it easier to find
information and to work around a site. This will make it easier to manage the
site. The key concepts that an IA looks at is: organization, navigation, search,
labeling and controlling. The IA then draws up blueprints and works closely with
the technical, graphic, and editorial team members to finish the site.
Thus, the most significant links between cognitive authority and the value
added model are the people who are the information seekers or information
users, the credibility, authenticity and reliability of information and the technology
used to retrieve or to gather the information since Wilson’s Cognitive Authority
Theory indicates that in recognizing cognitive authorities, information seekers have
bases or reasons for judgments of authority and Taylor’s Value-Added Model is a
framework for focusing on user’s needs and preferences in evaluating and in
designing information systems and how these systems can add value in order to
meet the user’s needs. This model has three foundation elements of the
information field. These are people, information and technology. (1) People. The
main focus is on the users of information, the information seekers since the
information systems exist to meet the information needs of users. (2) Information.
There is a hierarchy of information which is known as the “information spectrum.”
As value is added, the spectrum is moved up from data to information to
knowledge to action; and (3) Systems. The purpose of an information system is
to add value to better meet users’ needs.
Furthermore, from the paper age to the electronic age, information is still
being sought by both information seekers and the information professionals and
because of the power of the various information technologies we have,
information can be accessed in a more unified way, as pervading our lives and
society and requiring a sophisticated understanding of information behavior and
of the numerous technical options for storing information, relatively and
independently from their storage in specific locations; however, the more recently
developed information fields do not focus so much on particular information
institutions, so there are some opportunities or even challenges are being posed
by the Web and the Internet to the information professions when it comes to
accuracy, comprehensiveness, currency, reliability and validity of information.
With the advent of the World Wide Web (WWW) which is common in
school libraries because of its value as an educational tool, people are engaging
in interaction with more diverse information than ever before. It already surpasses
printed materials in the libraries when it comes to the quantity of information;
however, there is no guarantee of its quality of information, and it is often
described as chaotic, unorganized and confusing, Aside from these, information
professions should also give attention to the following challenges in terms of the
quality and authenticity of the information from the web and the internet: (1)
anyone can put up a web page without supervision or review at all. Web pages
are easy to create with little or no training, and there is no overriding
organization or governing body ensuring the validity of web page content. This
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lack of review and revision processes means that not all Web pages are reliable
or valuable; (2) anyone with access to the Internet can publish any information.
There is no systematic monitoring of what appears, except, of course, for articles
published in the online forms of otherwise reputable scholarly journals and
books. Biases, hidden agendas, distorted perspectives, commercial promotions,
inaccuracies, and so on are not monitored. Documents can easily be copied and
falsified, or copied with omissions and errors – intentional or accidental; (3) there
is no standard format for web sites and documents. Web pages exhibit fewer
clues regarding their origins and authoritativeness than print sources. Important
information, such as dates, author(s) and references are not always easy to
locate. The web user must often search through several pages, if the information
is provided at all; (4) internet sources are also not stable. Web documents can
be changed easily, and once changed, the original is gone forever unless a
specific effort is made to preserve it. In fact, many Web documents are
intentionally designed to change as necessary, and with automatic changes as
with manual changes, the original disappears; (5) web resources use hypertext
links and need not to be organized in any linear fashion. One can easily be led
astray and distracted from the topic at hand, but, of course, one can also be
led to additional information of value; and (6) the changing nature of the web
and web documents create major problems with the stability of information and
with links between different units of information. Dead or broken and links on
the Web are common and others just disappear or are not updated.
The continued growth of the digital world calls for an increasing need for
information “filtering,” but because of the diversity of information resources and
the lack of traditional quality control on the World Wide Web, the criteria of
authority and quality of information that people have used for this purpose in
past contexts may no longer be relevant and reliable, so the information seekers
who want to satisfy their needs for the information presented on the web or
internet are making such judgment with respect to quality and authority in the
World Wide Web. There are seven facets of judgment of information quality
being identified: source, content, format, presentation, currency, accuracy and
speed of loading. People mention source credibility with two levels: institutional
level and individual level. Authority is identified as an underlying theme in source
credibility. Institutional authority involved: institutional domain identified by URL;
institution type; and institution reputation recognized by names. Individual
authority involved: identification of creator/author; creator/author affiliation; and
creator/author’s name. People are more or less concerned with evaluating
information quality depending upon: the consequence of use of information; act
or commitment based on information; and the focus of inquiry. It was also found
out that people believed that the web, as an institution, was less authoritative
and less credible than other types of information systems.
Based on Wilson’s Cognitive Authority Theory, internet information lacks
authority compared to the printed materials. There is an increasing need for
evaluating the authority of Internet information. For ascribing cognitive authority, the
four primary filters are suggested: filter for document, filter for author, filter for
institution and filter for affiliation. It is important to examine the specific primary
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factors, such as information quality and cognitive authority of information from the
Internet and web sources.
The information professions which are in the field of information-related
disciplines need to response to the challenges of using the web and the
internet as sources of information since the information seekers or users can
have access to so much information from these sources, but there is no
guarantee that what they see is accurate since the web pages must be
examined critically. Even if there is a good deal of high-quality information on
the web, but there is also much that is of questionable quality and to respond
the above mentioned challenges, it is important to recognize both Wilson’s
Cognitive Authority Theory and Taylor’s Value -Added Model since both of these
give importance to the people as information users, the information itself and
the technology as information systems to ensure authenticity, authority and
reliability of information.
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References:
Bates, M.J. “The Information Professions: Knowledge, Memory, Heritage”.
Information Research. WebCite®. ˂http://www.webcitation.org/6WyNray1L>
2015. ˂http://InformationR.net/ir/201/paper655.html>. 2015.
Eisenberg, Mike. “Taylor’s Value-Added Model: Still Relevant After All These
Years. University of Washington. Lee Dirks, Microsoft Corporation
iConference. Feb. 27 - March 1, 2008. ˂http://faculty.washington.edu/mbe/
Eisenberg_Dirks_Taylor_ValueAdded_Modified_2008.pdf>
Rasmuson, Elmer E. “Evaluating Information Resources”. ˂http://library.uaf.edu/ls.
edu/ls101-evaluation>
Soo Young Rieh. “Cognitive Authority”. School of Information. University of
Michigan. ˂http://rieh.people.si.umich.edu/~rieh/papers/rieh_IBTheory.pdf>
Soo Young Rieh and Belkin, Nicholas J. “Understanding Judgment of Information
Quality and Cognitive Authority in the WWW. School of Communication,
Information and Library Studies. Rutgers University. ˂http://rieh.people.si.
umich.edu/~rieh/papers/asis98.pdf>
