Lesson 7 Organizing, Storing, and Retrieving Information and Media Content PDF

Organizing, Storing, and Retrieving Information and Media Content LESSON 7 Organization of Information With the vast amount of information that we receive every day from different sources, organizing information is an important skill. If we go to the library and archives, we...

Organizing, Storing, and Retrieving Information and Media Content LESSON 7 Organization of Information With the vast amount of information that we receive every day from different sources, organizing information is an important skill. If we go to the library and archives, we will notice that the books and documents are arranged according to subjects and are coded based on academic areas. Benefits of Organizing Information First, we can classify our materials based on our purpose of usage. We need to decide on the most practical way of organizing them. Should we go by subject, type of material, source, author, or timeline? Benefits of Organizing Information Second, we can easily identify materials that we need. When we are looking for materials, we can easily find them even when we are pressed for time. Third, we can easily store, retrieve, and restore these information and media materials. We can arrange, withdraw, and bring back these materials to where they are stored. Organizing Information Richard Saul Wurman, author of the book, Information Anxiety (1989) suggests five ways to organize information: 1. Category — Organization by the similarity of characteristics or relatedness of the items (e.g., books, periodicals, videos). Organizing Information 2. Time — Organization by timeline or history, where elements are presented in a sequential step-by-step manner (e.g., American period, Spanish period, Japanese period). 3. Location — Organization by spatial or geographic location, most often used for orientation and direction (e.g., Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao). Organizing Information 4. Alphabet — Organization based on the initial letter of the names of the items (e.g., Letters A, B, C). 5. Continuum – Organization by the quantity of a measured variable over a range, such as price, score, size, or weight (e.g., small, medium, large). Organizing Information Information may be organized in both real and virtual cases. When using the computer to organize information, there are spreadsheets, electronic folders or portfolios, and computer programs, and applications that can be used. We can learn from the libraries, archives, museums, building maps, stores, shops, and supermarkets in terms of how they organize information, objects, products, and materials. Storage and Retrieval of Information Storing information and media materials means keeping them in a safe place so that we can easily retrieve and restore them. When storing, we need to know initially the types of media materials, documents, and files (e.g., doc, docx, ppt, xls, mp3, mp4, jpeg). Storage and Retrieval of Information Upon knowing the type of materials or documents, we need to decide where to store them, either electronically or non electronically. Storage and Retrieval of Information Likewise, knowing the type of material or document will also help us to decide the amount of space that we will need for storing them. However, some materials may not necessarily require a big space as we can store them in our electronic folders or portfolios in computers and databases. In Conclusion When storing electronic materials, we must ensure that our computers are virus free and protected from any malware or other computer worms, including any electronic manipulations such as hacking. Some individuals and organizations invest in acquiring licensed software to protect their computer systems from these potential problems. Moreover, guidelines on responsible and ethical use and retrieval of these information and media materials must also be developed. ACTIVITY