Newswise — Arkansas' chief information officer will discuss UALR's world leadership in information quality at the International Conference on IQ, and announce the University's new Ph.D. degree information quality. The conference will be held Nov. 9-11 at MIT.
Claire Bailey, director of the Arkansas Department of Information Systems will deliver the keynote speech at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, at the conference held on MIT's campus in Cambridge, Mass. At the same conference last year, Dr. Mary L. Good, dean of UALR's Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology, announced the world's first graduate degree program in information quality. UALR's master of science in information quality now includes 45 students. UALR will begin offering a Ph.D. in Information Quality in 2008.
The study of information quality is an emerging discipline based on database theory, decades of research and practice, and the application of total quality management principles to information systems. Students in the program learn how to use the tools and techniques necessary to improve the integrity of computer-driven information that permeates all aspects of business.
"As public and private organizations increase their reliance on information for all aspects of their operation and decision making, the real costs of poor information quality are increasing as well," said Dr. John Talburt, professor of information quality. "Inaccurate, incomplete, inconsistent, and out-of-date information create operational errors, poor decisions, and damaged customer relations that cost government and industry billions of dollars a year. Events as disparate the space shuttle disasters, levee failures, and disruptions in the financial markets can be traced back to decisions based on low-quality information."
MIT's annual conference brings together the leaders in information quality research and practice from around the world. UALR began in 2005 offering the world's first master's degree in information quality " something industry and governmental advisory groups have been requesting. The program was developed jointly by personnel from UALR and MIT, but the degree is awarded through UALR.
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