The information quality lab studies the science of science, bibliographic information retrieval (especially retrieval and quality of medical information), and how evidence-based arguments are used in scholarship and in public discourse. The long-term goal of the lab’s work is to develop computer support for debate and argumentation, especially evidence synthesis. The lab’s technical perspective draws on data science, argumentation, knowledge representation, computer supported cooperative work, and human-computer interaction. Technical skills commonly used in this lab include data science (machine learning, network analysis, textmining), knowledge representation (ontologies and semantic technologies), prototyping, annotation, mixed methods research, and user-based evaluations. Typical applications areas include digital libraries and health informatics.

DIRECTOR: Jodi Schneider:

Dr. Jodi Schneider is Associate Professor of Information at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She directs the Information Quality Lab and participates in the Metascience Research Lab. She studies the science of science through the lens of arguments, evidence, and persuasion. Her long-term research agenda analyzes controversies applying science to public policy; how knowledge brokers influence citizens; and whether controversies are sustained by citizens’ disparate interpretations of scientific evidence and its quality. Her work has been funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the European Commission, IMLS, NIH, Science Foundation Ireland, the Office of Research Integrity, the Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, and an NSF CAREER award.

Schneider completed her PhD in informatics at the National University of Ireland (“Enabling reuse of arguments and opinions from online social disputes”), Galway and has degrees in library & information science (M.S. UIUC), mathematics (M.A. UT-Austin), and liberal arts (B.A., Great Books, St. John’s College).