Dr. Mary Good, founding dean of UALR’s Donaghey College of Information Science and Systems Engineering, delivered the keynote address at the 11th Annual International Conference on Information Quality last week at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.

In her speech, A Vision for Information Quality Education and Research at UALR, Good delivered a progress report on the master of science degree in information quality at UALR, a program developed in collaboration with MIT’s information quality program and with sponsorship from Acxiom Corp. of Arkansas.

UALR began last year offering the world’s first master’s degree in information quality – something industry advisory groups have been requesting. The program was developed jointly by personnel from UALR and MIT, but is offered entirely through the CyberCollege.

The program trains information scientists to improve the accuracy of computer-driven information that permeates all aspects of business.

“Poor quality information causes consumers to lose $1 billion to $2.5 billion a year because of scanner pricing errors,” Good said. “Poor quality information can also be deadly.”

More accurate and up-to-date information about the elevation of levees in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina could have made the doomed city better able to protect itself.