Health information seals of approval: What do they signify?

Much of the health information available to consumers on the Internet is incomplete, out of date, and even inaccurate. Seals of approval or trustmarks have been suggested as a strategy to assist consumers to identify high quality information. Little is known, however, about how consumers interpret such seals. This study addresses this issue by examining assumptions about the quality criteria that are reflected by a seal of approval. This question is of particular importance because a wide variety of quality criteria have been suggested for online health information, including core aspects of quality such as accuracy, currency, and completeness, proxy indicators of quality such as the disclosure of commercial interests, and indicators that reflect the quality of the site or the interaction it affords, such as the availability of a search mechanism. The results of this study suggest that seals of approval are assumed to certify information quality primarily with respect to core quality indicators, aspects that subjects both consider to be important and feel relatively less able to evaluate for themselves (compared to their ability to rate proxy indicators of information or indicators of site or interaction quality). This assumption is largely inconsistent with practice: most seals of approval involve assessment of proxy indicators of information quality, rather than direct assessment of content. These results identify a problem that certification or accreditation bodies must address, since unless and until consumer expectations are congruent with evaluation practice, seals of approval seem to promise more than they deliver

The Dilemma of Survey Nonresponse

An examination of the library and information science (LIS) literature reveals that surveys published between 1996 and 2001 in three major LIS journals have an average response rate of 63%, and almost three quarters of the surveys have a response rate below 75% (the level that is widely held to be required for generalizability). Consistent with the practice in other disciplines, however, most LIS researchers do not address the issue of nonresponse beyond reporting the survey response rate. This article describes a strategy that LIS researchers can use to deal with the problem of nonresponse. As a first step, they should use methodological strategies to minimize nonresponse. To address nonresponse that remains despite the use of these strategies, researchers should use one of the following strategies: careful justification of a decision simply to interpret survey results despite nonresponse, limiting survey conclusions in recognition of potential bias due to nonresponse, or assessing and correcting for bias due to nonresponse

Anonymity in Behavioural Research: Not Being Unnamed, but Being Unknown

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES should help answer a crucial question: how does anonymity influence behaviour? A quick perusal of the literature, however, reveals that the answer provided by this research is far from simple. According to the empirical literature, “anonymity” has broad, varied, and inconsistent behavioural effects. A deeper reading reveals that the complexity of behavioural effects is matched by the complexity and variety in the empirical definitions of “anonymity.” Analysis of empirical manipulations designed to operationalize the concept reveal that they reflect three distinct concepts: 1) identity protection (withholding of name or other unique identifiers); 2) visual anonymity (being unseen by communication partners); and 3) action anonymity (where the content and even existence of actions are unavailable to others). The first of these manipulations closely matches the traditional definition of anonymity, while the second and third relate more to being known (visually or by one’s actions) than to being identified. Thus, in the context of behavioural research, anonymity is defined in two intertwined ways: as lacking unique identifiers and as being hidden from public scrutiny. LA RECHERCHE EMPIRIQUE EN SCIENCES SOCIALES devrait aider à répondre à une question clé : quel est l’effet de l’anonymat sur le comportement? Un bref survol de la documentation révèle, toutefois, que la réponse qui se dégage de ces recherches n’est guère simple : les effets de l’anonymat sont nombreux, variés et incohérents. Une lecture plus attentive révèle que la complexité des effets de l’anonymat sur le comportement est comparable à la complexité et à la diversité des définitions empiriques du terme « anonymat ». L’analyse des manipulations empiriques visant à en opérationnaliser le contenu démontre qu’il existe trois concepts distincts : 1) la protection de l’identité (la dissimulation du nom ou d’autres identificateurs uniques); 2) l’anonymat visuel (la préservation de l’invisibilité aux yeux des partenaires en communication); et 3) l’anonymat des actes (la dissimulation aux autres à la fois du contenu des actes et des actes mêmes). La première de ces manipulations correspond à peu près à la notion traditionnelle de l’anonymat. La seconde et la troisième ont trait davantage à la connaissance de l’individu (visuellement ou par ses actes) qu’à son identification. Par conséquent, dans le contexte de la recherche sur le comportement, l’anonymat comporte deux définitions entrelacées : l’absence d’identificateurs uniques et la protection du soi contre l’examen public

Electronic Miscommunication and the Defamatory Sense

This article examines the effect that cultural and technological changes have had on interpersonal communication and aims to provide an interdisciplinary explanation for the recent proliferation of defamation in electronic media. The authors argue that the absence of certain extra-linguistic cues and established cultural convention in the electronic environment often results in miscommunication which — if not itself defamatory — gives rise to emotional exchanges between interlocutors in a manner that provokes defamation. The authors begin their analysis with a discussion of defamation law as a recipient-oriented tort, demonstrating the importance of the context of communication in the determination of whether a particular remark carries a defamatory sense. In order to better understand how an online communication is received and understood by its recipients, the authors then investigate three differences between electronic and other media of communications: i) that the technology-mediated and text-bases character of electronic communication makes the process of communication more difficult and the incidence of miscommunication more likely; ii) that the nature of social interaction in the online setting has a tendency to increase hostile communications that might be considered defamatory; iii) that the cultural context and standards of communication that develop in online communities will reduce the significance of these hostile communications. Applying these considerations to the law of defamation, the authors conclude by rejecting the naive point of view that a libel published through the Internet ought to be dealt with in exactly the same way that a libel published in a newspaper is dealt with. The authors end by calling for further empirical research about the content that is produced as a consequence of contextual challenges in electronic communication. Cet article analyse l\u27effet de changements culturels et technologiques sur la communication personnelle et vise à donner une explication interdisciplinaire de la récente prolifération de cas de diffamation dans les médias électroniques. Les auteurs posent que l\u27absence de certains signaux extra-linguistiques et de conventions culturelles dans l\u27environnement électronique mène souvent à une mauvaise communication qui – si elle n\u27est pas diffamatoire en soi — fait monter l\u27émotivité des interlocuteurs de manière à provoquer des échanges diffamatoires. Les auteurs discutent d\u27abord de la législation contre la diffamation en tant que tort orienté vers le destinataire et démontrent l\u27importance du contexte pour déterminer si le sens d\u27une remarque particulière est diffamatoire. Pour mieux appréhender comment une communication en ligne est reçue et comprise par ses destinataires, les auteurs abordent trois différences entre médias électroniques et autres: (1) le fait que les communications électroniques sont sous forme de textes et médiatisées par la technologie rend le processus plus difficile et la mauvaise communication plus probable; (2) ce type d\u27interaction sociale en ligne accroît tendanciellement les communications hostiles sinon diffamatoires; (3) le contexte culturel des communautés en ligne qui développent des standards de communication réduiront la portée des échanges hostiles. Appliquant ces dimensions au droit contre la diffamation, les auteurs concluent en rejetant le point de vue naïf selon lequel on devrait traiter de la même manière un libelle publié sur Internet ou dans un journal. D\u27autres recherche empiriques seront nécessaires sur le contenu produit face au défi contextuel de la communication électronique

Remembering Me: Big Data, Individual Identity, and the Psychological Necessity of Forgetting

Each of us has a personal narrative: a story that defines us, and one that we tell about ourselves to our inner and outer worlds. A strong sense of identity is rooted in a personal narrative that has coherence and correspondence (Conway, 2005): coherence in the sense that the story we tell is consistent with and supportive of our current version of ‘self’; and correspondence in the sense that the story reflects the contents of autobiographical memory and the meaning of our experiences. These goals are achieved by a reciprocal interaction of autobiographical memory and the self, in which memories consistent with the self-image are reinforced, in turn strengthening the self-image they reflect. Thus, personal narratives depend crucially on the malleable nature of autobiographical memory: a strong sense of self requires that one remember what matters, and forget what does not. Today, anyone who is active online generates a highly detailed, ever--expanding, and permanent digital biographical ‘memory’– memory that identifies where we go, what we say, who we see, and what we do in increasing detail as our physical lives become more and more enmeshed with electronic devices capable of recording our communications, online activities, movements, and even bodily functions. This paper explores the consequences of this digital record for identity, arguing that it presents a challenge to our ability to construct our own personal narratives – narratives that are central to a sense of ‘self’. In the end, the ‘right to be forgotten’ may be, above all else, a psychological necessity that is core to identity – and therefore a value that we must ensure is protected

Finsting Multiple Places In The Visual Field: Evidence For Simultaneous Facilitation

Indexing of multiple locations in a visual display was examined in the context of a selective search task. Subjects searched for a conjunctively defined target among subsets of display items randomly distributed throughout the display, identified only by their abrupt onset relative to other items in the display. Experiment 1 indicates that search is faster when observers search selectively over a subset of three display items (among a total of fifteen) indicated as potential target positions. Moreover, this result cannot be due to selective attention to one of the indicated items only, because search times are influenced by characteristics of the set of indicated items (these same characteristics have no meaning for single items). In particular, search is faster when the selected subset includes only one type of distractor (thus, as a set, the items share only one feature with the target); in contrast, slower search is observed when the subset includes mixed distractors (thus, as a set, the selected items share both features with the target). Experiments 2 and 2b demonstrate that search times are not slowed when the spatial dispersion of the indexed items is increased, discounting hypotheses that one attentional locus is either expanded to include the indicated items, or moved in an analog fashion from item to item. According to the results of Experiments 3 and 3b, observers are able to select up to five items in a display, and the advantage for subsets including homogenous distractors increases with increases in the number of selected items. Taken together, the results of these experiments suggest that observers can select a small number of items in a display (up to four or five) and subsequently treat these items virtually as if they are the only items that appear. These results are discussed in the context of a theory of visual indexing (FINST theory), which assumes that the visual system uses a small number of indexes (FINSTs) to mediate the engagement of a single attentional mechanism

Revisiting the Open Court Principle in an Era of Online Publication: Questioning Presumptive Public Access to Parties’ and Witnesses’ Personal Information

Openness Of cOurts can serve laudable purposes, not the least of which are transparency of government and court systems and access to justice, although accounts of the open court principle’s meaning, breadth, and underlying pur- poses have expanded and shifted over time.CurrentlyinCanadathe adherence to the principle has meant presumptive access to almost all aspects of court cases, including access to personal information about parties and witness- es, encompassing not only information contained in court judgments, but also information contained in documents led in court oces. Historically, not- withstanding this presumptive access, practical obscurity has protected much of this information, in that most people will not trouble themselves to physically attend court onces in order to review records led there. While the practical obscurity generated by having to physically access court records made it dif- cult for the public to interact with and understand the law and legal outcomes by, for example, imposing a barrier to public access to court judgments, it also protected privacy by minimizing the likelihood of widespread public inspection of personal information about witnesses and litigants. Moving court records online makes those records more easily accessible and thereby undermines practical obscurity. This change o ers the bene t of improving public access to law and legal reasoning, but in the online context, maintaining a default in favour of presumptive access could also have devastating effects on privacy. Unfettered online access re- moves the inconveniences and personal accountability associated with gaining physical access to paper records, not only opening up public access to court judgments, but also opening up sensitive personal information to the voyeuristic gaze of the public. We take the position that in this context, presumptive access to personal information about parties and witnesses jeopardizes the funda- mental human right to privacy without substantially contributing to the under- lying values of the open court principle: transparency and access to justice. Ultimately, we suggest that mechanisms to reintroduce friction into the process of gaining access to personal information ought to be taken to rebalance the public interest in open courts with the public interest in the protection of privacy

Documenting Privacy Dark Patterns: How Social Networking Sites Influence Users’ Privacy Choices

Dark patterns are user interface (UI) design strategies intended to influence users to make choices or perform actions that benefit online services. This study examines the dark patterns employed by social networking sites (SNSs) to influence users to make privacy-invasive choices. We documented the privacy dark patterns encountered in attempts to register an account, configure account settings, and log in and out for five SNSs popular among American teenagers (Discord, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat). Based on our observations, we present a typology consisting of three major types of privacy dark patterns (Obstruction, Obfuscation, and Pressure) and 10 subtypes. These strategies undermine the ability of users to make conscious, informed decisions about the management of their personal data – and as prolific users of social media who sometimes demonstrate a lack of knowledge and concern about online privacy, teens are especially vulnerable. We outline the implications of our findings for teens’ privacy on social media and the development of dark pattern countermeasures

Hidden online surveillance: What librarians should know to protect their privacy and that of their patrons

Librarians have a professional responsibility to protect the right to access information free from surveillance. This right is at risk from a new and increasing threat: the collection and use of non-personally identifying information such as IP addresses through online behavioral tracking. This paper provides an overview of behavioral tracking, identifying the risks and benefits, describes the mechanisms used to track this information, and offers strategies that can be used to identify and limit behavioral tracking. We argue that this knowledge is critical for librarians in two interconnected ways. First, librarians should be evaluating recommended websites with respect to behavioral tracking practices to help protect patron privacy; second, they should be providing digital literacy education about behavioral tracking to empower patrons to protect their own privacy online

Personal Information and the Public Library: Compliance with Fair Information Practice Principles

Abstract: Libraries collect personal information from users and link that information to internal library records. Although they fiercely protect the privacy of their patrons, libraries cannot ensure that personal information will remain confidential. Patrons must therefore have sufficient information to make informed decisions about release of personal data. Privacy notices are the accepted mechanism for providing this information. Our study demonstrates, however, that Ontario public libraries rarely provide notice to patrons regarding information collection and use. Smaller libraries and those without MLS trained staff are less likely to provide notice, suggesting that resources and/or staff training may contribute to this lack. We suggest that national or provincial organizations may want to support libraries in the development of privacy policies. Résumé Les bibliothèques recueillent des renseignements personnels sur leurs usagers et relient ces renseignements à leur fiche client. Bien qu\u27elles protègent rigoureusement la vie privée de leurs usagers, les bibliothèques ne sont pas nécessairement en mesure d\u27assurer la confidentialité des renseignements personnels qui leur sont fournis. Les usagers doivent donc être en possession de suffisamment d\u27information pour prendre des décisions éclairées concernant les renseignements qu\u27ils fournissent. La distribution d\u27avis concernant la confidentialité est la façon acceptée de fournir cette information. Notre étude démontre cependant que les bibliothèques publiques ontariennes fournissent rarement à leur clientèle des avis concernant la collecte et l\u27utilisation des renseignements [End Page 1] personnels. Dans les bibliothèques de taille modeste et celles ne disposant pas de personnel titulaire d\u27une formation (maîtrise) en sciences de l\u27information, il est encore moins probable que cet avis soit donné, cette lacune étant probablement liée aux ressources dont elles disposent et à la formation de leur personnel. Nous suggérons que les organisations nationales ou provinciales étudient la possibilité de soutenir les bibliothèques dans le développement de politiques concernant la vie privée