The Information Infrastructure - Evolving Global Information Infrastructure and Information Transfer - page 62

is synthesized into a report of the research process and the findings. This prepar-
ation of a report is the recording stage.
In the example of a news event, the reporter has attended a meeting and must
now assemble her notes into a report of the event, a school board meeting. The
audio or video recording and/or written notes from the interviews are integrated
into the report.
In the third example, the creator synthesized information for recording on a Web
site, blog, or Facebook post. Unlike the other two examples, there was no editor to
serve as a filter for the information. The creator served both roles.
In all three examples, data that were collected have been synthesized and re-
corded. The recording may be accomplished digitally, using a word processor. If
the reporter were working for a television station, his or her report might be recor-
ded digitally after he or she had reported live during the local 10:00 p.m. televised
news program and posted on the station's Web site. Regardless of format, the
new information has been recorded as the second stage of the information transfer
cycle.
Reproduction
Reproduction of information requires copying the information so that it can be
distributed; however, through the use of digital technologies, mass production may
be instantaneous with the dissemination. In the example of formal research, re-
searchers send their finished report of the research project to a journal that is likely
to publish a report on the topic. At this point an evaluation process occurs. A schol-
arly journal editor will scan the manuscript and select a group of peers to review
the report, usually a “blind” review process in which the readers do not know the
identity of the report author(s). If the reviewers concur that the researcher has used
appropriate methods, and the topic and findings are a significant contribution to
the discipline's or profession's body of knowledge, the reviewers provide a favor-
able evaluation, and the editor publishes the report. If one or more reviewers raise
serious concerns about methodology and/or conclusions, the editor may ask the
researcher to revise the manuscript to address the concerns of reviewers. If the
reviewers have raised serious concerns, the editor will reject the manuscript.
When issues raised by reviewers and the editor have been satisfactorily ad-
dressed by the researcher, the manuscript may be accepted for publication. The
journal may be mass-produced in paper format and/or published electronically. In
either case, the review by peers is a critical part of scholarly mass production of
information and knowledge.