International Journal of Information Quality (6 papers in press)

Special Issue on: "Frameworks, Approaches and Methodologies for Enhancing Information Quality"
Guest Editors: Professor Andy Koronios, University of South Australia, Australia and Dr Latif Al-Hakim, University of Southern Queensland, Australia

• A Statistical and Syntactical Approach to Datawarehouse Design Quality
  by Maurizio Pighin, Lucio Ieronutti 
  Abstract: Companies and commercial organizations greatly benefit from the availability of techniques and methods targeted at analysing transactional data. Data warehousing allows analysts and managers to interactively study collected transactional data for deriving information suitable to support decision processes. However, the effectiveness of such tools strongly depends on datawarehouse design choices and quality of data, since the analysis is centered on a limited subset of database attributes (i.e., measures and dimensions). The task of selecting proper datawarehouse measures and dimensions is not trivial, especially in the case of databases characterized by a large number of tables and attributes. In this paper we propose an approach based on statistical and syntactical aspects that can be effectively used both for (i) guiding the attributes selection during the datawarehouse design, and (ii) evaluating the quality of taken design choices. We tested on three commercial databases the effectiveness of our proposal.
  Keywords: datawarehouse design, quantitative quality measurements, tool for datawarehouse design, datawarehouse evaluation
   
• The information management risk construct: identifying the potential impact of information quality on corporate risk
  by Troy Pullen, Heather Maguire 
  Abstract: Recent media coverage and the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the US have focused increasing attention on organisational records. The increasing devolution of information management and recordkeeping responsibility to the end user is potentially problematic in relation to decisions regarding just what records should be retained, in what format and for how long. At the same time as organisations are coming to terms with the problems caused by this devolution of responsibility they are faced with a plethora of legislation and regulation relating to requirements for organisational records. Irrespective of format, organisational records need to be considered a subset of organisational information. A broad view of information quality combines the components of information quality previously identified in the literature with information management. There is an increasing need for collaboration between information managers, information technology staff and legal advisors to ensure that organisations can meet recordkeeping requirements necessary to ensure compliance and to deal with legal challenges. This paper points to the relationship between information management and information quality and corporate risk. It describes an Information Risk Construct developed to assist in identifying the degree of risk to which organisations are exposed as a result of their recordkeeping practices. The risk construct can be applied in any organisation in order to assess their information management capability, to identify problem areas, and to highlight those processes requiring improvement to help ensure information quality thereby mitigating corporate risk.
  Keywords: information quality, information management, organisational records, corporate risk, operational risk, information risk, risk construct
   
• Perceptions of Information Quality of Internet and Traditional Text Sources Among Chinese Users of the Internet
  by Barbara Klein, Yi Maggie Guo, Chunyue Zhou 
  Abstract: Despite the recent explosive growth in Internet usage in China, little research has addressed perceptions of the Internet held by Chinese users. The results of a survey study of Chinese users’ perceptions of the information quality of Internet and traditional text sources of information are reported. Results show significant differences in perceptions of the Internet and traditional text sources of information. Chinese users perceive the believability, accuracy, objectivity, reputation, interpretability, representational consistency, concise reputation, and access security of traditional text sources of information such as books, magazine, journals, and newspapers to be higher than that of Internet sources and the completeness, appropriate amount, and accessibility of Internet sources to be higher than traditional text sources of information.
  Keywords: information quality; Internet; sources of information; Chinese end users; China
   
• Managing Data Quality of integrated data with Known Provenance
  by Maria del Pilar Angeles, Lachlan MacKinnon 
  Abstract: Users querying a Database System will have returned to them a set of data with no indication of the qualitative value of that data. In order to address the issue of Data Quality, and challenging the presumptions of Perfection, Atomicity and Primary Authorship, a toolset has been developed. This project proposes a Data Quality Manager (DQM), which contains a Reference Model, a Measurement Model and an Assessment Model to identify data quality criteria to measure and assess data quality of derived data, and data at multiple levels of granularity. The qualitative information provided by the DQM is enhanced by considering data provenance. The qualitative measures allow the ranking of data sources based on users’ specification of the context in a heterogeneous multi-database environment. The DQM prototype has been tested and several experiments have been carried out in order to prove that more accurate information is being provided to the users.
  Keywords: data quality; data provenance; heterogeneous database systems.
   
• The Combined Conceptual Life-Cycle Model of Information Quality: Part 1, An Investigative Framework
  by Shirlee-ann Knight 
  Abstract: Systems Information Quality (IQ) investigative frameworks, thus far, lack a widely accepted model with which researchers can conceptualise the context of their study, and identify the important IQ characteristics to be examined and empirically tested. The result is a widely varied body of literature lacking a coherent and consistent approach to identifying and measuring systems IQ. Presented is the Combined Conceptual Life Cycle (CC/LC) model of IQ, a framework which enables researchers to develop a more accurate research lens through which to examine user/information interaction and perceptions of IQ. Importantly, the CC/LC is the first framework of its kind which can be used to address user IQ perceptions from either an information production and/or information retrieval perspective.
  Keywords: Information Quality; User Perceptions; Combined Conceptual Life-Cycle model of IQ; CC/LC;
   
• An Examination of the Information Quality Perceptions of Mexican Internet Users
  by Barbara Klein, Magali Valero, Yi Maggie Guo 
  Abstract: Mexico was a relatively early adopter of the Internet, and although broadband access has been limited in some parts of the country the government has aggressively sought to provide Internet access to users throughout the country. This study reports the results of a study of perceptions of information quality among Mexican users of the Internet. Results are reported from a survey of Internet users at two Mexican universities in which perceptions of fifteen dimensions of information quality are assessed. The nine dimensions of believability, accuracy, objectivity, reputation, value-added, ease of understanding, representational consistency, concise representation, and access security have higher ratings for traditional text sources of information than for Internet sources of information. In contrast, the dimensions of timeliness and accessibility have higher ratings for Internet sources than for traditional text sources of information.
  Keywords: information quality; Internet; sources of information; Mexican end users; Mexico