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Cees de Bondt wondered: <<Occasionally data in publications should be
reliable, e.g. tariffs, timetable data, etc.>>
Only occasionally? <g> Possibly this is a linguistic glitch (I see
you're writing from the Netherlands), but my opinion is that data
should _always_ be as reliable as your budget and other resources
permit.
<<How should you secure these data and show to users these data are
totally reliable? By implementing an ISO 9000 system?>>
Some form of quality control is always necessary, and ISO 9000 is
just a formal way of doing this. You can be less formal and still
succeed: for example, hire an editor to check every single statement
(check all Web address and telephone numbers). I routinely check the
summary data provided by my scientist clients because historically,
no more than half of them can add a column of numbers and get the
correct result. (In their defence, this often results from rounding
spreadsheet data, but readers don't see this: they just see the
error.) Similarly, you can hire a journalist to check corporate data
or rely on data from credible sources (e.g., Morningstar for mutual
funds).
Even with the best possible quality control, you can't completely
prevent errors: accountants lie or make inevitable human mistakes,
published data changes as more accurate information becomes
available, errors get caught and corrected, and so on. So the best
you can ever hope to achieve is a snapshot: "At the time of
publication, these data had been verified to the best of our
ability." If necessary, provide a caveat: "Readers should perform
their own investigations to confirm the data remain valid at the time
of reading."
<<Additional question: how would you perform source control,
especially on 3rd world sources?>>
Depends on how important the data is and what your resources are.
Critical data that lives depend on will require heroic measures.
Important data on which readers will base financial decisions may
benefit from hiring a forensic accountant or other financial expert
to confirm the data. If you have fewer resources and less important
data, a simple edit may suffice.
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