Search results

This paper examines what role the law can and should play with regard to unreliable information available on fast communication networks, such as the Internet. Users of electronic information find it increasingly difficult to assess its reliability. The traditional structures for assessing reliability are lacking or function inadequately. Clear social norms have not yet been developed. As regards the law, traditionally liability law is the first legal guard against undesirable societal developments. We conclude however, that liability law is an inadequate remedy for unreliable information. Self‐regulatory initiatives such as trust mark seals for websites providing reliable information offer a more promising perspective, although these also have their limitations, especially in the sphere of enforcement and legitimacy. In this paper, self‐regulation is nonetheless hailed as an important instrument because it provides an indispensable test‐bed for more concrete legal norms derived from reliability criteria for information. Even if self‐regulation may not completely materialise, discussion about self‐regulation could be a stepping stone to the development of pertinent social norms.

This study aimed to evaluate the quality of Internet information on smoking cessation using a cross‐sectional survey design. The characteristics and content of 89 Web sites containing smoking cessation information were evaluated. The quality of these sites were measured by the information quality tool (IQT), quality scale (QS) and DISCERN. The most widely reported types of information were the risks of smoking (65.2 per cent of sites) and nicotine replacement therapy (77.8 per cent of sites). Most (59.7 per cent) of the sites containing treatment information were evidence‐based. The Web sites were of variable quality and the quality of sites produced by non‐commercial organisations (e.g. universities) was significantly higher than those produced by commercial organisations (e.g. pharmaceutical companies) and private practices. Sites containing some evidence‐based information had significantly higher quality scores than sites containing no evidence‐based information. These findings have implications for practice and further research and these are discussed in the paper.

The internet provides a wide range of technologies that enable health professionals to communicate with people. It ultimately may soon be the primary source for an individual searching for healthcare information, even for emerging economies such as Turkey. This study aims to examine how perceived benefits, perceived quality, and reliability of electronic health (e‐health) information affect intention to repeat e‐health information search behavior.

Through an announcement on one of the well‐known health web sites in Turkey, 376 out of 386 valid and complete responses were received via an online survey. The data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and multiple regressions analysis.

Results of the study indicate that the personal health issues component of perceived benefit has received the most consistent support as the factor that influences future health information search intention on the internet.

Research findings show that consumers use health web sites as a complementary tool rather than self‐diagnosing. Considering this, suggestions were made for web site designers to concentrate on information needs of consumers especially on personal health issues. Nevertheless, scope of data collection and focusing on intention rather than actual e‐health search behavior are the limitations of this study.

The internet was used by 45 percent of Turkish internet users for searching health‐related information approximately in 2009. So, how do these e‐health information seekers evaluate the benefits, quality, and reliability of e‐health information? Do benefits, quality, and reliability of e‐health information affect future e‐health information search intention? This study is unique in addressing all these questions for Turkish internet users.

This paper seeks to understand how users determine credibility in the internet environment from a conceptual level and the implications of these new methods of credibility determination on internet tools (primarily software) and services.

The author first examines the underlying reasons for increased dependence on the internet for information, using electronic commerce as a starting point. The central concept of “information self‐sufficiency” is introduced and then examined through the lens of the internet and conversation theory.

The author finds that users are shifting from more traditional “authority” methods of credibility determination, where users cede determinations to trusted third parties, to a “reliability” approach where users seek commonalities and coherence among multiple information sources. This has led to an increased pressure for participation and openness at all levels of the internet.

Studies on users and credibility must better account for often invisible technical factors.

Libraries must take into account a greater need for participation and technical fluency when dealing with patrons, particularly in information literacy programs and instruction.

This paper presents a large‐scale conceptual approach to credibility on the internet. It seeks to inform current approaches to the subject nested in communications and instruction with the unique technical environment of the internet.

This article juxtaposes the history of the book to the current discussions about lay health information on the Internet in order to thoroughly open up the notion of “reliability” that underlies these discussions. It uses the parallels between the two media to improve understanding of what actors are involved and what issues are at stake, as well as how this is consequential for the reliability that is constructed.

The study described in this article aimed to gather insights into what people think when they search the Internet for information. The premise is that people relate to information services and systems metaphorically. In other words, they identify the system or service as analogous to something perhaps more mundane or commonplace. These are known as wild metaphors. They help to explain the unknown or unfamiliar and help us to learn new things. They arise from our individual beliefs and backgrounds but they are also inevitably influenced by our collective experience of contemporary media characterisations of the Internet. This study relates the analogies that academics in Australia report for the Internet with the satisfaction that they derive from information seeking on the network. It provides some insight into how academics in Australia perceive the Internet when they use it to search for information.

The increasing presence of the Internet in the medicine market is making it necessary to examine the ethics and privacy issues related to dispensing medical advice and information on the Web. In order to successfully regulate e‐medicine practices, a comprehensive set of regulations must be established to supplement existing corporate attempts at self‐regulation. This paper details some of major factors that must be present to achieve acceptable levels of e‐privacy/e‐security at the B2C (business‐to‐customer) level and manage the confidentially and trust afforded to e‐clinicians. One of the most important issues among Web‐enabled medicine providers is how to secure trust and loyalty among customers. This can be accomplished by providing reliable and accurate information, while safeguarding an individual's private information from third‐party collaboration and loss of integrity. Various examples and a conceptual model using basic concepts of reliability theory and the resource‐based view of the firm were used to identify the factors necessary to achieve privacy and ethics in an e‐medicine environment.

To contribute to the development of a theoretically grounded measure of organizational internet use (OIU) by conceptualizing and operationalizing it as a theoretical construct, and by empirically assessing its reliability and validity

The focal construct OIU was conceptualized as an abstract collective object with three components, forming an index with formative, causal indicators. A multi‐method research design – including a cross‐sectional drop‐and‐collect survey among small technology‐based firms (STBFs) in Germany and an observational study of web sites – was applied to assess empirically the theoretically developed construct OIU. This was achieved by using the component‐based partial least squares (PLS) structural modeling technique using PLS‐Graph.

The empirical assessment of the scale, applied to the international business domain, proved to be reliable and valid in the structural model and across assessment methods.

The focal construct was assessed among a very specific population. This limits the claims that can be made with regard to applying it in other industries, countries, and firms. Future research should address this by applying OIU in maximally different research contexts.

The developed construct has important implications for both managers and researchers. It should help in assessing levels of organizational internet use in a consistent fashion across populations and studies. It can be used for benchmarking purposes – of specific interest to managers – and it can be used to explore antecedents and consequences of organizational internet use – of specific interest to researchers.

Internet research is moving from anecdotal and exuberant internet euphoria to internet pessimism to internet realism. Only theoretically grounded, reliable and valid measures can support such a required transition. With this paper we have made an initial contribution for such a development to occur.

One of the most significant aspects of Internet, in comparison with other sources of information, such as libraries, books, journals, television, radio etcetera, is that it makes expert knowledge much more accessible to non‐experts than the other traditional sources. This phenomenon has often been applauded for its democratizing effects. Unfortunately, there is also a disadvantage. Expert information that was originally intended for a specific group of people ‐ and not in any way processed or adapted to make it fit for a broader audience ‐ can easily be misunderstood and misinterpreted by non‐experts and, when used as a basis for decisions, lead to unhappy consequences. Can these risks be diminished without limiting the informational freedoms of the information providers and without imposing paternalistic measures regarding the receivers of the information?