Reflection on Media and Information Sources

Media and information sources are all about the sources of information that we gather all the time. It is on how could we obtain it and on how to evaluate those sources.
Media and information source is any source that serves as a means of communicating to a general, public audience. The various means by which information is recorded for use of an individual or an organization. It is a means by which a person is informed about something or knowledge is availed to someone. There are three types of information sources; primary, secondary and tertiary.  Primary Sources are original materials on which other research studies are based. It reports a discovery or share new information. They present first-hand accounts and information relevant to an event, in an original form, not interpreted or condensed or evaluated by other writers.  An example for these are letters, photographs, diaries and speeches. Secondary Source of information is the one that was created by someone who did not have first-hand experience or did not participate in the events or conditions being researched. They are generally accounts written after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. Secondary sources describe, analyze, interpret, evaluate, comment on and discuss the evidence provided by primary sources. Examples of these are books, journals and magazines. Lastly, Tertiary sources consist of information which is a distillation and collection of primary and secondary sources. It index, organize and compile citations to, and show primary and secondary sources that can be used. The information of the secondary sources are already ‘digested’ – reformatted and condensed in tertiary sources, to put it into a convenient, easy-to-read form. An example for this is are reference books such as dictionaries and encyclopedia.

Media and information sources can be obtained by human, indigenous, library and internet sources. Human Source is any person who can be a source of data or information. Communication with peers/colleagues is a good way of obtaining vital information. Traditional sources are sources that are obtained traditionally by an indigenous community or people. Library sources are sources that are found in the library. The internet is a global system of networked computers that allow user-to-user communication and transfer of data files from one computer to another. It is the information sources found in the internet. Unlike library sources, some of the information available in the internet are not peer-reviewed or referred as no one individual or group dictates what information should be published or how it should be presented. The freedom to post items allows individual to publish their opinions, ideas and creative works on the internet. Evaluating internet sources is known as CRAAP. Currency, relevance, authority, accuracy and purpose.