faktatiedosta

Faktatiedosta is a term used in Finnish-language discussions of information quality to describe data or information whose core factual content is verifiable and free from demonstrable misinformation. It is not a formal standard, but a descriptive concept that helps distinguish facts from interpretation, opinion, or conjecture within a dataset, article, or report. The idea emphasizes provenance, evidence, and the ability to reproduce factual claims.

The idea emphasizes provenance, evidence, and the ability to reproduce factual claims. The term combines elements referring to facts (fakta) with information or knowledge (tiedosta), and it is applied across journalism, education, and data governance to signal reliability criteria for sources, datasets, and communications. In practice, a faktatiedosta approach may involve documenting sources, citing evidence, and including metadata that indicates verifiability and date of last validation. It can guide fact-checking workflows, data curation, and media literacy efforts by providing a label that alerts readers to fact-based content.

Critically, the concept remains subjective to some extent, since determinations of what counts as a fact can depend on context, scope, and methodological transparency. Proponents stress the need for transparent criteria and audit trails, while critics warn against rigid binaries that ignore nuance and evolving evidence.

Related concepts include factuality, data quality, source provenance, fact-checking, and open data principles.