What is Information Media?
Information media refers to a collection of methods or tools to transfer ideas, knowledge, or data among people in society. In other words, it helps facilitate one of the most basic, but significant, human needs which is communication. Thanks to various forms of information media, we are able to communicate not only more effectively but also more pervasively. Visual graphics and videos delineate sophisticated ideas and make them more comprehensible. Texts or audios have been regularly used to exchange ideas with people at a distance for a long time. In addition, information media offers the equal education opportunities for everybody, especially disabled people. While texts and manipulatives provide access to knowledge for people with hearing loss or deafness, audios make learning possible for those who are visually impaired.
We are living in the era where information media is an integral part of our daily lives. Information media presents in various forms and through many channels, such as newspaper, television, radio, social media, just to name a few. Whether it is intentional or not, every day we are interacting with a plethora of information media through which our social views and perspectives are shaped. Moreover, together with the development of technology, many new forms of information media have been dramatically developed nowadays. Noticeably, each form with its own characteristics might affect the way we conceive the message differently, even negatively. Therefore, information media needs to be carefully studied and utilized in the appropriate way because of its highly significant social impact.
It is not exaggerated to say that most of the extant fields in our society cannot exist without information media. In the business world, text documents like contracts, orders, memos, etc. have been an inevitable part of daily operations and presented in all aspects of business from producing and manufacturing to marketing and selling.
Email is the primary mean of business communication in a majority of organizations in the world. Company executives take advantage of summarized reports to learn about market outlook, to assess the success of business, or to make strategic decisions. Business is also the field where media is frequently appeared in dynamic and creative ways to attract more customers, to enhance brand presence, or to gain more market shares.
When it comes to education, there is no doubt that information media plays a vital role in the field. Thanks to information media, most of human knowledge is archived and passed from generation to generation, so people can explore and build up their knowledge upon what their predecessors have done. Additionally, information media is used to deliver instruction and to enhance the learning outcomes. Today all of instructional materials like textbooks, lectures, videos, or presentations are created on different kinds of information media obviously.
It is worth pointing out that students respond to various forms of learning materials differently. For instance, some students comprehend reading materials better when the materials are presented in text form, others do better with the audio format. Therefore, by understanding students’ preferred learning style, instructors can select or design instructional materials in the form that help students achieve the best learning results.
