Information Pollution, a Mounting Threat: Internet a Major Causality

Pandita, Ramesh

doi:10.1633/jistap.2014.2.4.4

Cited by 16 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In addition, social media has made harmful content increasingly difficult to detect and monitor (Allcott and Gentzkow, 2017). The potential for increased spread of information pollution (Pandita, 2014) and the potential implications for society requires a fresh look at the role information plays in social epidemics. While information pollution (that is the production of detrimental information) by the internet has been addressed by several authors (Cai and Zhang, 1996;Pandita, 2014), we set out to demonstrate the causality of harmful information as one factor in the spread of social epidemics.…”

Section: Can Information Be Pathogenic?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Information: a missing component in understanding and mitigating social epidemics

Magarey

Trexler

2020

Humanit Soc Sci Commun

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Social epidemics or behaviorally based non-communicable diseases are becoming an increasingly important problem in developed countries including the United States. It is the aim of our paper to propose a previously understudied aspect of the spread of social epidemics, the role of information in both causing and mitigating social epidemics. In this paper, we ask, can information be harmful, contagious, and a causal factor in social epidemics? In the spread of biological epidemics, the causal agents are biological pathogens such as bacteria or viruses. We propose that in the spread of social epidemics, one of the causal agents is harmful information, which is increasing exponentially in the age of the internet. We ground our idea in the concept of the meme and define the concept of an infopathogen as harmful information that can spread or intensify a social epidemic. Second, we ask, what are the best tools to understand the role of information in the spread of social epidemics? The epidemiological triad that includes a host, agents (and vectors), and the environment is extended into a quad by including information agents. The quad includes the role of information technologies as vectors and the impact of the social environment. The “life cycles” of pathogens in biological epidemics and infopathogens in social epidemics are compared, along with mitigations suggested by the epidemiological quad. Challenges to the theory of infopathogens, including the complexities associated with the spread of memes and the role of behavior in the spread of epidemics are discussed. Implications of the theory including the classification of harmfulness, the freedom of speech, and the treatment of infected individuals are also considered. We believe the application of the epidemiological quad provides insights into social epidemics and potential mitigations. Finally, we stress that infopathogens are only part of social epidemic development; susceptible hosts, a favorable environment, and availability of physical agents are all also required.

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Section: Can Information Be Pathogenic?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Information: a missing component in understanding and mitigating social epidemics

Magarey

Trexler

2020

Humanit Soc Sci Commun

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“…The prevailing environment of information pollution (Pandita, 2014), unleashed by unregulated publishing on the web, has made it somewhat difficult for the seekers of information to retrieve the most reliable and authentic piece of information. Over a period of time, we may witness an increased demand for LIS professionals across the globe, towards retrieving the most authentic and reliable information and handling of information in databanks across web servers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research growth in LIS during last decade: a study

Pandita

Singh

2015

Library Review

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Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:123705 [] For AuthorsIf you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. ABSTRACTPurpose: The present study seeks to examine the research growth in the field of library and information science (LIS) at a global level for the period 2004-2013. The key areas analysed in the study include: research growth in LIS at continental level, the world's ten leading LIS research countries, citation analysis and h-index, etc. Scope: The scope of the present study is global in nature and lasts for the period 2004-2013. Methodology: The study is supported with empirical findings, for which data was retrieved from the SCImago Journal and Country Ranking, based on the SCOPUS data source. The study is not exhaustive in nature as it covers only those articles published in LIS journals indexed with this particular data source. The study simply reflects a trend and not the exhaustive figures. Findings: A total of 75,887 research articles were retrieved on the date of data retrieval and put to analysis. The US emerged as the leading LIS research country with 29,349 articles, constituting 38.54% of the total global LIS research output, followed by the UK and China. Spain is the fasted growing LIS research country in the world, with an average annual research growth of 28.7%, and is closely followed by Australia and China. The average annual corresponding research growth of LIS publications at global level remained 10.46%. Out of 194 nation countries, 162 (82.50%) have contributed to LIS research during the period. North America, Europe and Asia are the three leading LIS research continents. Paper Type: Research

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“…Information technology has brought revolution in the world of information production, dissemination, and its handling. On the other hand, information technology is considered a major source of information pollution (Pandita, 2014). Internet is indeed blessing in its own way and one can imagine how the recourse of life will suffer in its absence, especially with respect to present day as benchmark, where most of the routine activities are being carried out by technology in automated form by seating at one place rather than running from pillar to post as in the old times.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers have affirmed to check the reliability and validity of information available at WWW (Fritch and Cromwell, 2001). On social media, people express their views on a variety of issues openly and fearlessly (Pandita, 2014). Authenticity of information in cyberspace is a major concern for researchers (Haider and Koronios, 2003).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The abundance and frequent delivery of junk e-mails has depleted the beneficial usage of e-mail communication (Stover and Nielsen, 2002). Mostly, promoting messages from mobile service providers and ringing of a third person mobile at specific environment create distraction and disturbance (Ling, 2004; Pandita, 2014). Large publication of books with common topics and their high prices make it hard to collect relevant information.…”

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confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The assessment of perceived information pollution in banking sector

Iqbal

Hassan

Ahmad

2018

Business Information Review

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Infollution management is a substantial dilemma in this century. There is lacking empirical evidence about infollution management. Perceived infollution has been explored based on information quality. This study aims to identify the factors of perceived infollution (information pollution) and validate those factors using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Researchers have personally collected data from employees of the banking sector. Factor analysis was performed to explore the factors using Statistical Package for the Social Science, and CFA was conducted to check the reliability, validity, and the model fitness in SmartPLS. The scale developed in this study has exhibited high values of reliability and validity and ensured the presence of both discriminant validity and convergent validity. The newly developed scale of perceived infollution provides a basis for most of the academicians and researchers to empirically investigate the relationship of perceived infollution with individual’s performance and organizational effectiveness, which is considered an important area of interest among the academic researchers in recent years. Extent literature review suggests that it is the first study conducted to develop measurement scale of perceived infollution (information pollution).

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Information Pollution, a Mounting Threat: Internet a Major Causality

Cited by 16 publications

References 22 publications

Information: a missing component in understanding and mitigating social epidemics

Information: a missing component in understanding and mitigating social epidemics

Research growth in LIS during last decade: a study

The assessment of perceived information pollution in banking sector

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