The Evolution of Information

When something important happens in the world, whether it’s the discovery of ancient ruins, the development of a new flu medication, or a report on a tragic event, information about that event is communicated over the course of days, weeks, months and years. While the exact process in which something is communicated varies by discipline and event, here’s a very generalized summary of how information dissemination evolves over time.

Some information is provided the same day, through radio and television newscasts and through websites. These reports may have a lot of uncertainty and unanswered questions.

In the days after an event, newspapers start reporting information. The information that comes out at this point is usually a bit more detailed and may provide some background information.

The weeks after an event will find articles in magazines, such as Time magazine. There will be more details, follow-up, and some analysis here.

In the months after an event, scholarly journal articles will begin to appear. These generally will be written by scholars and experts in the field who have by now had time to think about and analyze the event. They will write about this event as it fits into larger issues, they will provide more analysis, and may do comparisons with other events.

Years after an event, more academics will write books discussing impacts of the event, doing more analysis, and providing many more details.

The information you get from different sources, such as the web, books, magazines and newspapers, can therefore be very different in nature. For most research projects, it’s important to have a good mix of sources.

Based on what you've learned about information sources in this unit, start thinking about which types of sources would be most useful for your topic.