Applications consuming linked data certainly *could* blend accurate and 
inaccurate (or questionably accurate) sources. Lots of people still love to 
hate Wikipedia for its doubtful authority, yet it's one of the biggest 
sources of available linked data at this point. But just because someone 
exposes something as linked data, that doesn't mean you have to incorporate 
it in some automatic way. I'd answer that you design your application to 
consume data that you trust, and linked data makes it easy for you to do 
that.

You raise a good question (imo) -- Can users trust the content because the 
people doing the blending can be trusted to have assembled only good stuff? 
Or do the chunks of blended content need some kinds of markers to indicate 
their sources and authority? Is something as simple as a source citation 
sufficient? (Sorry for the excessive sibilance in that sentence.)

David Talley

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 4 Feb 2013 10:34:37 -0500
From:    Donna Campbell <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Linked data [was: Why we need multiple discovery services 
engine?]

In mentioning "pushing to break down silos more," it brings to mind a
question I've had about linked data.

From what I've read thus far, the idea of breaking down silos of
information seems like a good one in that it makes finding information
easier but doesn't it also remove some of the markers of finding credible
sources? Doesn't it blend accurate sources and inaccurate sources?

Donna R. Campbell
Technical Services & Systems Librarian
[snip]
Westminster Theological Seminary Library