Functional regimes of information integrity: the sociotechnical production of reliability in algorithmic environments

Abstract

Introduction: Information integrity is frequently defined in terms of technical attributes such as accuracy, consistency, authenticity, and completeness. Although operationally relevant, this perspective tends to overlook the social, institutional, and technical conditions through which information reliability is produced and sustained. Objective: To theoretically reconstruct the concept of information integrity through the notion of functional regimes of reliability, examining its relationship with information work and algorithmic mediation. Methodology: This qualitative theoretical-conceptual study draws on contributions from Information Science, Science and Technology Studies, and research on algorithms and platforms. The analysis was organized around the operations of information selection, validation, and stabilization. Results: Information integrity was understood as a situated and processual condition produced through human practices, classification systems, digital infrastructures, institutional norms, and governance mechanisms. Reliability criteria were found to be functionally differentiated according to institutional domains, contexts of use, and conditions of circulation. Algorithmic mediation reorganizes these operations by influencing the relevance, visibility, validation, persistence, and retrieval of records. Conclusion: The concept of functional regimes of information integrity is proposed to designate sociotechnical arrangements that configure specific conditions for the production of reliability and require mechanisms of transparency, auditability, and accountability.