Why would the delivery mode for information make a difference? Think about oral, written, visual, and other modes, such as through a web search or social media. Does each have its own characteristics that have an impact of the information itself?

Delivery Mode, or Information Sharing

Think about these elements connected to delivery mode:

1.) Does the mode itself have an effect on your willingness or ability to create or use the information? Does it cause anxiety due to information overload or other reasons?

If you do a web search and receive a million hits, how do you sift the results to get the best items? Do you even try, or do you concentrate on the ones listed on the first screen or two? When the search isn’t going well, do you reflect on other avenues to pursue?

If the information is oral and coming from someone whose views you don’t agree with, does that affect how well you listen?

2.) How interactive is the information? Are you receiving the information in real time through video conferencing, tweets, or instantaneous communication, or was the information presented at another time?

When was the information initially posted? Is it still relevant?

Do you have the opportunity to respond? If so, how?

3.) Are you or others able to easily interact with the information? Is it delivered in a way where you can see what others have to say about it? Can you comment yourself?

Take an example that is connected to daily life, rather than to academic research. If you are interested in buying a pair of shoes, you could go to a store, and ask the sales clerk for information about them. The sales clerk may or may not have any knowledge about how well they fit, if they hold up well, etc. But you might be able to find them on an online site where many purchasers have left comments about the fit and quality of the shoes.

User feedback can be very helpful, but it is important to consider carefully how it meets your own needs. The Evaluation Points challenge is pertinent to this set of deliberations.

4.) Are the resources freely available?

5.) Is specialized hardware, software, or connectivity needed to access the information?

6.) Does the resource have both Web and mobile capabilities?

7.) What do you have access to?

Write a series of three to five posts/tweets about the topic of information delivery, concentrating on new ideas suggested to you in this unit. Use an existing social media account, if you have one, in order to share these thoughts with others. Use screen capture to collect the posts/tweets in a Word document. If you do not have such an account, write a sentence or two about your informed decision not to use this type of social media, and that decision’s affect on information delivery.