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From:    Bob Anderson <anderson@iris.rand.org>
Subject: ERRORS IN LARGE DATABASES AND THEIR SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Date:    Wed, 18 Nov 92 15:33:58 PST
--------
   Dr. Stephen Lukasik has agreed to act as guest editor of a special
issue of "The Information Society" journal addressing errors in large
databases and their social implications.  Attached is a brief prospectus
for this special issue.

   If anyone receiving this message is unfamiliar with the journal and its
focus and interests, I would be happy to supply additional information.

	Bob Anderson

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                   ERRORS IN LARGE DATABASES AND THEIR
                           SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS

                      Prospectus for a special issue
                    of the Information Society Journal

With the growth of information technology over time, we are becoming
increasingly affected by data in electronic databases.  The social and
business premise is that electronic databases improve productivity and
quality of life.  The dark side of all this is that these databases
contain errors, most trivial but in some cases they contain errors that by
their nature impose a penalty on society.  The penalties can range from
minor annoyance and modest administrative cost in having a record
corrected, to more serious cases where more costly consequences ensue, to
conceivably, loss of life or major loss of property.

The consequences to society of errors in electronic databases can be
expected to increase, probably at an increasing rate.  Some factors
contributing to this expected increase are the increasing extent, in both
size and coverage, of existing databases; increasing capture of data by
automated transaction systems, from text and image scanners and the like;
greater coupling of databases, either by administrative agreements or by
more sophisticated search processes; more "amateur" database
administration with increasingly widespread use of information technology;
increasing use of heuristic search techniques that lack "commonsense;" and
probably other well-meaning but pernicious influences.

The purpose of the proposed issue is to accomplish the following: (a)
increase recognition of, and awareness of the growing nature of the
problem of errors in electronic databases that are increasingly becoming
regulators of modern life; (b) encourage greater attention to the
collection of error rate data and to quantitatively assessing the social
and economic costs deriving from those errors; (c) foster theoretical and
empirical studies of the propagation of errors through the coupling of, or
joint search of, multiple databases; and (d) encourage the formulation of
measures, in both technology and policy domains, designed to limit the
costs accruing from the inherent growth in size and connectivity of
electronic databases.

We seek papers for the issue that will focus on the following aspects of
the problem addressed here: (1) an enumeration of socially relevant
databases, whose errors can have important consequences, either from a
large number of small unit cost consequences or a small number of high
cost consequences; (2) quantitative data on errors in databases,
classified by the nature of the errors and their derivative costs; (3)
obstacles to a full and open discussion of the problem such as those
deriving from concern over legal liability and loss of business from
"owning up" to the problem; and (4) proposals for technical and policy
measures that can limit the growth of the problems addressed.

The premises of the journal issue are: (1) that the problems of errors in
databases can not be minimized until they are adequately recognized and
fixes explored by the professionals in the field; and (2) that we must
move from the anecdotal level, where horror stories abound, to a
quantitative level where the economics of fixes, either in quality control
at the point of data collection, or the quality control of the output of
database searches, can be sensibly analyzed.

Your interest in contributing to this special issue is invited.
Suggestions for possible topics, authors, or an interest in contributing
should be communicated to one of:

     guest editor:                      editor-in-chief:
	 Dr. Stephen Lukasik                Dr. Robert H. Anderson
	 1714 Stone Canyon Road             RAND, P.O. Box 2138
	 Los Angeles CA  90077              Santa Monica CA  90407-2138
	 net: lukasik@rand.org              net: anderson@rand.org
	 tel: (310) 472-4387                tel: (310) 393-0411 x7597
	 fax: (310) 472-0019                fax: (310) 393-4818

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