When an event occurs and as it develops, information about it is generated and disseminated. The first reports
show up on the Internet, television and radio. These first reports focus on the quick facts:
who, what, where. As time passes
information filters through different types of resources, with the level of coverage increasing and becoming much more detailed and analytical.
| Time |
Source(s) |
Type
of Information |
Authors |
Audience |
Location |
| Day
of the event |
Radio,
TV, WWW |
General:
who, what and where (usually not why) |
Journalists
|
General
public |
WWW
search tools |
| Days
Later |
Newspapers,
Radio TV, WWW |
Varies:
some articles include analysis, statistics, photographs, editorial opinions |
Journalists |
General
public |
WWW
search tools, newspapers, periodical databases |
|
Week(s)Later |
Popular and mass market news magazines (i.e., Time, Newsweek) |
Still
in reporting stage (who, what, where and why); general; editorial and opinions;
statistics; photographs; usually no bibliography available at this stage |
Journalists
(usually not specialists in the field) |
General
public to knowledgeable layperson |
WWW
search tools, newspapers, periodical databases |
|
Months
Later |
Trade
magazines and scholarly journals |
Research
results, detailed and theoretical discussion; bibliography available at
this stage |
Specialists
and scholars
in the field |
Scholars, specialists,
students |
Periodical
indexes and databases |
One
Year
to
Years Later |
Scholarly
journals; books; conference proceedings
Reference sources such as encyclopedias, handbooks, etc. |
In-depth
coverage of a topic; edited compilations of scholarly articles relating
to a a topic; bibliography available
General overview giving factual information; bibliography usually
available |
Specialists
and scholars
in the field |
General
public
to specialists
Scholars, students, layperson |
Library catalogs,
periodical indexes and databases
Library's reference collection |
updated 8/15/06 |
| The table is based on UCLA
College Library's original "Flow of Information" tutorial, from July 2001 and
located at: http://wwwtest.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/help/flow/index.htm |
|
