Information Formats

Information comes from many places: books, magazines, newspapers/news media, videos, social media, and more.

Those are all formats of information. Format refers to how information is packaged.

Some formats are better than others for your information need. Think first about the kind of information you need to help you choose the right format. Formats present information differently for different purposes. News media presents information for the general public about current events. Academic journals present original research or even editorials from researchers for other researchers.

Knowing what information format you have tells you:

How the information was created.
Who created the information.
Why the information exists.

Watch the following video (5 min. 54 sec) for a closer look at the information cycle and information formats.