CAPE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

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CAPEINFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Unit 1 Information technology theory Module
1 Fundamentals Of Information technology

• Objective 9
• Identify characteristics of
• information sources.

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Characteristics ofinformation sources(1)

• Availability
• Personal contacts are likely to be more available
  than expensive abstract journals, or indeed any
  scholarly journal.
• Cost
• The cost to acquire information from a specific
  source.
• For example, it may be cheaper to source
  information from the Internet than travelling to
  and perusing books at the Library.
• Format
• Medium

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Characteristics ofinformation sources(2)

• Currency
• Textbooks are often published at least two years
  after they have been written. As a result,
  textbooks in rapidly changing fields often are
  not the most up-to-date source of information.
• Clearly, the World Wide Web is probably the
  information source which is most easily updated.
  However, it is important to realize that
  information sources which are easily updated are
  often not refereed, and one therefore has to be
  aware of the trade-off between being refereed (a
  process which takes a certain amount of time) and
  being easily updated.

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Characteristics ofinformation sources(3)

• Depth
• Different information sources also differ in the
  amount of detail that they cover.
• For example, newspaper articles are usually
  written for a general audience and may not
  contain the depth required for a research
  project.
• Articles in scholarly journals, on the other
  hand, often analyze material to a greater level
  of depth. The trade-off is that articles in such
  journals are often more difficult to understand,
  or at least require a much greater level of
  previous knowledge of the subject.

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Characteristics ofinformation sources(4)

• Breadth of coverage
• Similar considerations as depth.
• Reliability
• The fact that certain publications are refereed
  was already mentioned, however, publications that
  have gone through a rigorous process of peer
  review are more likely to be reliable than those
  that do not.
• It is also important to realize that there are
  differences between different disciplines. For
  example, conference proceedings in the field of
  Computer Science tend to go through a peer review
  process, whereas other disciplines, such as
  Biology, do not.

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Appropriateness ofinformation sources(1)

• Selection of appropriate Information Source for a
  given task.
• It is important that you are aware that different
  information sources often are appropriate for
  what might seem to be the same task.
• For example, finding out the score in a
  particular cricket match.
• If the match is a local one, such as a match
  involving the school team, then personal contact
  is probably the best source to use.
• If the match is a test match involving the West
  Indies, then perhaps the newspaper is the best
  source.
• If the match is a test match not involving the
  West Indies, then perhaps the World Wide Web is
  the source to use.

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Appropriateness ofinformation sources(2)

• Another important consideration is that for many
  problems one may want to use more than one
  information source.
• For example, when deciding which University to
  attend.
• One may want to use information obtained from
  brochures and student handbooks produced by the
  universities in question.
• However, one may want to also find information
  about the University from the Internet, for
  example, to get the most up-to-date list of
  courses offered by the University, or to find out
  which social activities are offered by the
  University's student clubs.
• However, if the University is a local one, a
  visit or a telephone call may be the better way
  to go.
• In addition, one may want to consult people
  attending the University.

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Appropriateness ofinformation sources(3)

• Again, the way in which one contacts the person
  can differ.
• If one knows the person personally, then a
  face-to-face meeting or telephone call may be
  appropriate.
• If one does not know the person personally, then
  an e-mail message may be more appropriate.
• Consequently, selection of appropriate
  Information Source for a given task can be
  summarized based on the requirements of the task
  including
• Time
• Criticality
• Accuracy
• Currency