High school pupils operate in a macro (country-specific), meso (school-specific) and micro (personal) context and their information needs are always experienced in a context - sometimes as imposed school assignments or else self-generated, e.g. as everyday life information needs. Pupils source their information through various information channels and there is sometimes a perceived risk to acting on incorrect information. Compared to adults in information-intensive professions, researchers have found that pupils tend to be unconcerned about the credibility of information. Based on a literature survey, a trust model was compiled from a number of other models and adapted to serve as an information channel credibility model portraying the pupil in context with his/her perception of information channel credibility. The model was used as a framework for a study on high school pupils’ perceptions of information channel credibility and factors influencing their perceptions. The study was guided by the following research problem: How can school pupils’ perceptions of information channel credibility inform school-based interventions? In order to find answers, the following sub-questions were addressed: • What has been reported on perceptions of information credibility and information channel credibility, with specific reference to school pupils, students and adults, as well as professionals in information-intensive environments? • How can trust models guide a study of pupils’ perceptions of information channel credibility? • What factors influence school pupils’ perceptions of information channel credibility? • What school-based interventions could be recommended to address the shortcomings in the perceptions of pupils that can prepare them to meet the information requirements of adulthood? A self-administered print questionnaire was used in May 2015 to survey the perceptions of 548 South African high school pupils from three different schools covering the range of the socio-economic spectrum from wealthy through to pupils from poor, unemployed home environments. The study was conducted with grade 8 and grade 12 pupils (entry and exit grades for South African high schools) from a city in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the principals of the three schools. The results are reported as descriptive statistics supported with inferential statistics and qualitative analysis where relevant. The findings are that pupils’ perceptions of information channel credibility are affected by the perceived risk of acting on incorrect information, their previous experience and the context (i.e. type of information need, whether the need is imposed or self-generated and pupil demographics) in which the information need occurs. Pupils used a level of metacognition with regard to information channel credibility. The model proved useful to guide data collection that can guide school-based interventions. It holds potential to be further adapted to actually reflect school-based interventions. School-based interventions are suggested to encourage responsible assessment of information channel credibility, including the simulation of risk by means of mark allocation for metacognition about information channel credibility, intentional exposure of pupils to a wide range of information needs and exposure to highly credible as well as less credible information channels. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Information Science / PhD / Unrestricted

L’encyclopédie Wikipédia se caractérise par un mode d’élaboration ouvert et collaboratif. La singularité de son modèle éditorial amène à s’interroger sur la crédibilité que lui attribuent ses lecteurs ainsi que sur l’activité normative de la communauté wikipédienne pour la garantir. Une hypothèse serait ainsi que le référencement est un moyen de renforcer la crédibilité des informations encyclopédiques, ce qui pose la question de l’identification de la fonction de ce procédé rhétorique par le lecteur. Pour appréhender les questions relatives à la valeur épistémique de l’information, un modèle de communication documentaire articulant autorité cognitive, confiance, crédibilité et référencement est proposé. Une enquête par questionnaire auprès de jeunes scolarisés (11-25 ans) montre que la confiance envers Wikipédia varie selon le niveau de scolarité. Elle est influencée par la réputation académique, majoritairement négative, de l’encyclopédie. Par la suite, les effets d’un projet pédagogique dans lequel des lycéens deviennent des contributeurs à l’encyclopédie sont analysés. Une évolution positive de la confiance envers l’encyclopédie est relevée tant chez les professeurs que chez les élèves, ceux-ci prenant conscience de l’importance des règles communautaires et du référencement. Enfin, les évolutions des règles relatives au référencement au sein de la Wikipédia en langue française et les débats que ces règles ont suscités entre 2002 et 2013 sont étudiés. L’approche anthropologique et historique adoptée met en évidence le rôle central attribué au référencement pour faire face aux problèmes de confiance épistémique rencontrés par la communauté wikipédienne. Elles révèlent également les tensions inhérentes à ce projet éditorial. / Wikipedia is an open-content encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Its editorial process is unique. Thus this study is focused on the users’ perception of its credibility and on the wikipedian community policy to guaranty it. One hypothesis might be that referencing is a way of guaranteeing the content's credibility which naturally leads to another question: how do the users/readers identify this rhetorical device? To approach the matter of the epistemic value of information, a documentary communication model combined with cognitive authority, trust, credibility and referencing is proposed. Firstly, a survey of 11 to 25 year-old students highlights that their trust for Wikipedia varies according to the level of studies. This level of trust is also influenced by the overall negative reputation of this encyclopedia in the academic community. Secondly we observe the effects of a project where students become editors to the encyclopedia. There is a clear improvement in the trust toward Wikipedia amongst students and teachers as they realize the importance of community policies and referencing. Finally, we analyze the changes in referencing policies and guidelines in the French Wikipedia as well as the controversies they provoked between 2002 and 2013. The historical and anthropological approach highlights how key the role of referencing to the wikipedian community is, in order to face the issues of epistemic trust. It also reveals the tensions inherent to the editorial policy of this project.

The recent economic crisis has hit most sectors of human activities. The media sector was no exception. Before the crisis began, media companies had to face challenges of technological and cultural transformation, the impact was even more accelerated by global economic downturn. The boom of the Internet and, by extension, social media, redefine consumer behavior in relation to information whose quantity and accessibility are rapidly increasing through technological innovation. The goal of this work is to evaluate impact of transformational effects on distribution and credibility of information presented in mainstream media. All this in terms of both consumer and mass media, because this synergistic relationship can not by separated.

The main purpose of the present study was to explore the effects of characteristics of information given in a job advertisement (amount of information and the specificity of the information) on the potential applicants&rsquo / willingness to apply to the job opening with the mediating roles of credibility of and satisfaction from the information, and attraction to the organization. In addition to that, the factors affecting the decision of the applicants to apply for the job posted such as application modes (internet, by hand in the same city the applicant lives, by hand in a different city than the applicant lives), different selection methods (interview, personality test, knowledge test), and personality characteristics (goal orientation and self-efficacy) were investigated. The study was conducted in three phases. In the first phase, one hundred and seven Middle East Technical University (METU) students were used to decide between two alternatives of goal orientation and two self-efficacy scales, which were translated into Turkish and adapted for the current study, to be used in the main study by determining the validity and reliabilities of the scales. The second phase was the manipulation check, conducted to test the clarity and meaningfulness of the newly developed job advertisements and questions related to the research hypotheses. Thirty-two METU students were used for the second phase. The final phase was the main study. One hundred and fifty four METU students from Electrical and Electronics Department were used to examine the hypotheses of the study.The students were randomly assigned to the three different versions of job advertisement. Additionally, a questionnaire package was given to each participant. The results supported most of the main hypotheses and the proposed model except for the mediating effect of satisfaction. Advertisement type affected the willingness to apply to the job of potential applicant and this relation was mediated by credibility and credibility was mediated by attractiveness to the organization. A main effect of application mode was found for change in application decision, but no interaction was found between application mode and different attraction levels. Goal orientation found to be affecting applicants&rsquo / decision change for different selection methods. Self-efficacy failed to predict decision change for application for different selection methods. Results are discussed along with the strengths and limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.

When intelligent voice-based assistants (VBAs) present news, they simultaneously act as interlocutors and intermediaries, enabling direct and mediated communication. Hence, this study discusses and investigates empirically how interlocutor and intermediary predictors affect an assessment that is relevant for both: trustworthiness. We conducted a secondary analysis using data from two online surveys in which participants (N = 1288) had seven quasi-interactions with either Alexa or Google Assistant and calculated hierarchical regression analyses. Results show that (1) interlocutor and intermediary predictors influence people’s trustworthiness assessments when VBAs act as news presenters, and (2) that different trustworthiness dimensions are affected differently: The intermediary predictors (information credibility; company reputation) were more important for the cognition-based trustworthiness dimensions integrity and competence. In contrast, intermediary and interlocutor predictors (ontological classification; source attribution) were almost equally important for the affect-based trustworthiness dimension benevolence.