Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
However, the information transfer processes are even more interactive than
shown in this simplified model. We have described the information processes in a
linear fashion: the creation process is followed by recording, production, dissem-
ination, bibliographic control, organization by discipline, (hopefully) diffusion, util-
ization, and either preservation or discarding. Describing the information transfer
process in this way makes it easier to understand, and in the orderly world of the
old and still existing industrial paradigm, the information transfer process has been
a step-by-step process.
For example, a newspaper reporter observed an event, recorded the event by
writing a story (creation) on his or her computer (recording), and submitted it to an
editor, and it was edited and published in the printed newspaper (production). The
print newspaper was sent by trucks and deliverers to newsstands and home cus-
tomers (dissemination). Readers read the stories, ignored some of the information,
and remembered others (diffusion). Libraries collected, stored, and systematically
organized the newspapers (bibliographic control), while other organizations may
organize the newspapers according to a scheme they have organized (organiza-
tion by discipline). Readers may act upon some of the information (utilization); then
the articles deemed important might be clipped (preservation) and the remainder
recycled or destroyed (discarding). This was an orderly process.
Newer technologies and information systems have changed the information
transfer process so that the steps are less orderly. For example, a person might
observe an event and enter it on his Facebook page (creation). As soon as it is
recorded and sent, the dissemination process has occurred almost simultaneously
with recording. Friends may read the entry and find it worthwhile to comment (dif-
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