The Information Age can be such a wonderful thing. Well, most of the time anyway. With information shared, referenced and linked so quickly via the internet, sometimes the effect can be less than desirable. Whether it’s a major media outlet or a small web site, things slip through the cracks. Other times, the errors are even bigger.
Take the recent example of an article I read in a local paper about whether relocating for a job was worth it (original article here). The article was picked up from a columnist out of Dallas, Texas and according to my best estimate has been referenced and/or re-printed approximately 200 times in just over a week. Not too shabby, particularly for an article about relocating for a job.
While I was a little surprised about how this article had spread like wildfire through the internet I was dismayed about two things in particular.
1. How an article is trimmed and reduced so it will fit in a newspaper, often leaving out extremely valuable information, and preventing the reader from getting the true focus of the article that was intended by the writer.
2. Propagating somewhat sketchy information to begin with, and then exacerbating it by taking out supporting information, providing the reader with bad information.
So where’s my beef? Beyond this being a standard warning that any information you read, be it on the web or in your local fish wrap may not be 100% accurate. Let me state that he’s also way out of line when he says that a “30% raise should be expected” when you relocate for a job (nor should the 10-20% range that was mentioned in tougher economic times). Of course, if it was my job would be a lot easier.