Semantic Relevance
= denotes the relative value of information to a particular person
Description
Stephen Downes [1]:
"Semantic relevance is the result of a combination of factors (which may vary with time and with the individual), according to whether the information is:
- new to the receiver (cf. Fred Dretske Knowledge and the Flow of Information)
- salient to the receiver (there are different types of salience: perceptual salience, rule salience, semiotic salience, etc)
- timely, that is, the information arrives at an appropriate time (before the event it advertises, for example) - this does not mean 'soonest' or 'right away'
- utile, that is, whether it can be used, whether it is actionable
- cognate, that is, whether it can be understood by the receiver
- true, that is, the information is consistent with the belief set of the receiver
- trusted, that is, comes from a reliable source
contiguous, that is, whether the information is flowing fast enough, or as a sufficiently coherent body
Because of these conditions, the value of each new piece of information, on average, will decrease relative to its predecessors. At a certain point, the value of the new information will be such that it actually detracts from the value of the information already received (by, say, blocking it, distracting one's attention from it, contradicting it, and the like)." (http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2007/11/personal-network-effect.html)