Modification of Erroneous and Correct Digital Texts

Abstract

The end-user paradox and the illusion of digital prosperity reveal the contradictory situation in which both non-professional and professional computer scientists and engineers seem satisfied with digital development but unaware of the magnitude of waste generated by end-users and their digital artifacts. To measure this waste and to reveal end-users’ problem-solving strategies, our research group set up an objective measuring system that can calculate the entropy of digital texts (EDT). To calculate EDT, a testing process of 53 participants was launched where erroneous and correct natural language digital texts were modified according to the requirements of the tasks. It was found that erroneous documents require more time and information to be modified, which implies that waste is generated by handling these documents. It was also found that when the problem-solving processes are broken down into atomic steps, EDT can reveal uncertainty and idleness, which further increases waste. The goals of the present paper are to call attention to (1) the hidden waste generated by billions of end-users and its consequences, (2) educational approaches and general ignorance which have led to these low-level results, and (3) the need to set up a standard evaluation system for further analyses.