MEDIA AND

INFORMATION
SOURCES

Lesson 5
SPECIFIC LEARNING OUTCOMES

a. Identify the different media and information sources

b.Compare potential different sources of media and
information
c. Evaluate the appropriateness and accuracy of information
from these various sources.
d.Construct the advantages and disadvantages of media
sources using a graphic organizer.
 MOTIVATION
Where will you get the following information?
Information Needed Source of Information
Announcement about  
suspension of classes due to
typhoon
Your community’s annual  
fiesta celebration in the last
10 years
CoViD19 Pandemic crisis  
Basic composition  
techniques in photography
Parts of a research paper  
Your family genealogy  
(family tree)
Home works  
Government guidelines  
Media and Information Sources
• People use different kinds of sources to gain information regarding topics that
they want to know about. Most of the time, people use media sources for research
(whether it be academic or personal) and investigate purposes. For students,
knowing the different media sources, acquiring a variety of point of view, and
gathering enough information to support or validate the gathered data are
imperative.
• Your information needs to dictate your choice of media and information sources.
Sources are not all the same and are not created equal. In an article written by
Meyer (2005) on the nature and the effective use of information in rural
development, it was suggested that resources may be evaluated by looking at the
information that they contain. In other words, the content says a lot about the
source.
• Information, unlike raw data, is processed and refined. It is an
interpretation of the data by the author or producer of the information.
As a consumer, you have to exert more effort to look past the
information and check its validity and relevance to you. Information
may also become obsolete and may not be applicable to current
contexts and utility. In your case as students, you are expected to
discern the changes in the content and claims of the information that
you locate, use, and share.
• Uncertainty is a key driver for one to seek information. As someone
curious about how things work, you would like to reduce this
uncertainty by consulting various materials in archives such as
libraries, multimedia texts, and objects found in the Internet, or media
messages from the different mass media forms.
DIFFERENT MEDIA AND INFORMATION
SOURCES
A. Indigenous Source

The media source which is created and controlled by a

community is called an indigenous source. Any kind of
community that holds and distributes information within
itself, whether geographic, interest or community of
identity, can be considered as indigenous source. It is
safe to assume that this media source is native, local or
originally produced in a specific locale or region.
Indigenous sources have the following characteristics:

1.They are unique and they mirror the community where they
originated from;
2.They are mostly not written down and are orally transferred
from one generation to another;
3.They are preserved and given much importance by the
community; and
4.They may sometimes be subjective because they are closely
related to experience.
Most indigenous information is in the local language and is stored in the
memories of the members of the community. When this is the case the
only way to access such information is orally through personal
communication like interviews, or through direct observation. But these
may also be stored or accessible in various forms, such as:

 Folk or traditional media such as stories, songs or poetry, drama, dance, paintings, and
other forms of art;
 Community gatherings such as fiestas and rituals such as baptism;
 Social organizations such as youth clubs, clubs of fans or practitioners of certain form of
art, sports, and the like;
 Direct observation of practices such as the preparation of meals;
 Documents and other written records; and
 Oral instruction such as a local expert of a sports, for example, arnis.
B. The Library

The traditional source of validated information all over the world is

the library. A library is a collection of resources in a variety of
formats that is (1) organized by information professionals or other
experts who (2) provide convenient physical, digital, bibliographic,
or intellectual access and (3) offer targeted services and programs (4)
with the mission of educating, informing, or entertaining a variety of
audiences (5) and the goal of stimulating individual learning and
advancing society as a whole (Eberhart, 2010).
Different types of Library
Academic library

• An academic library has a vast collection of

academic and research resources because it
caters to student researchers in colleges and
universities. This type of library is mostly
using as source of information for
researchers and other academic papers.
Public library

• Public libraries are localized libraries that cater

to small communities, towns, districts, and cities.
This library is accessible to everyone. There are a
wide variety of literary texts and academic texts
in the collection of this type of library form
children’s books to academic collections.
School library

• The school library serves the students from

kindergarten to high school. The library contains
an array of academic and non-academic
materials. Textbooks of varied publications are
included in the school library including the ones
currently used by the students.
Special library

• Hospitals, military compounds, private

corporations, governments, and public and
private sectors may also have a library. A
special library is a specialized environment
that includes a collection pertaining to the
specific needs of the sector, industry or field.
Sections of the Library
General reference:

Houses general encyclopaedical works

including dictionaries, almanacs, atlases,
directories, handbooks, manuals,
indexes, abstracts, etc.
Periodical Section

This section has all local and foreign journals,

magazines, newspapers, government
publications and other forms of serial
publication, vertical files such as pamphlets,
brochures, and newspaper clippings.
General Collection/Circulation Section

Houses the main collection of the library,

with books on various topics such as
Philosophy, Religion, Social Sciences,
Language, Arts, Pure Science, Applied
Science, Literature, History, and Geography.
Children’s Section

Houses children’s books and other

educational materials.
Multimedia and Internet Section

Holds multimedia facilities such as computers,

television, and other technologies used to view the
nonprint collection of the library. It also allows the
library user to access the internet.
Special Collection

Contains materials separated from the

general collection because they may be
rare, fragile, valuable, unpublished, or non-
textual. Some of these materials usually
don’t fall into any of the conventional
categories like books and serials.
C. Internet Sources
According to Reuters, the Internet is the most
popular information resource form. It is the
preferred choice against traditional sources such
as libraries and other media like television and
radio. This is because of easy accessibility.
Internet can be accessed anytime and anywhere
even through a mobile device.
 The following criteria from https://ctl.yale.edu/writing/using-
soruces/citing-internet-sources must be taken into consideration in
dealing with information found from Internet sources:

1. Authorship. Many materials that can be found in the Internet does not have an author.
If authorship is unclear, the information is most likely unreliable even if the
administrator of the website is listed, it is still hard to tell whether the information is
taken from another source.
2. Type of website. The type of website is also another thing to consider in ensuring the
reliability of information. There are websites which are sun by a single administrator,
some sponsored by organizations, and some websites are put up by unknown persons or
groups. Social media sites are a different thing because it is a public domain wherein
members are free to post things that interest them or opinions and ideas that they want
to convey.
The following criteria from https://ctl.yale.edu/writing/using-soruces/citing-
internet-sources must be taken into consideration in dealing with information found
from Internet sources:

3. Plagiarism check. It is very easy to use Internet sources because in

just one click, a search engine will yield various materials. For whatever
reasons, many are tempted to copy and paste. This is a dire case of
plagiarism because copying a material without citing the source is a
false claim of authorship.
 Finding information online
1. In choosing keywords, try the obvious first. For example, if you are looking
for information on Jose Rizal, enter “Jose Rizal” rather than “heroes.”
2. Use about six to eight key words for your search topic.
3. Use nouns and adjectives. Leave out articles (the, a, an) and pronouns (e.g.,
he, they, it).
Find quick answers by using the following Google features:
- Weather
- Dictionary
- Calculations
Unit conversions
Pros and Cons of the Different Types of
Media as Sources of Information
Media PROS CONS
type/form
Books - Portable/transferable information - Print is dead or is it?
- Affordable by volume, depending on size - Costly typesetting and design
of print run - Costly publication in multilingual
- Enduring medium that can last for many editions
years - Expensive storage and shipping
- Ideal for content that may not change - Prohibitively expensive reprinting/
drastically over time revising of outdated information
- Environmental issues

Magazines - Loyal readership - Newspaper valid only for a day

and - Target a geographical area - Message can be lost
newspapers - Can be shared with others - Magazines have niche audiences
- Inserts and leaflets attracts attention
Cinema - Reaches many demographics, literate or - Expensive production
illiterate - May or may not hold interest/attention
- Can be entered in local/international film
festivals and competitions for further
exposure
Media PROS CONS
type/form
Radio - Trusted medium with loyal followers - Niche market: stations cater to specific types
- Community radio has loyal audiences interested of listeners
in local activities - Audience will tune out
- National broadcasters can carry messages for - Background medium
nationwide events - Difficult to incite action
Television - Quickly spreads the messages on different - Expensive
channels and times of day - Short message that must be repeated to sink
- Improves credibility in
- Best suited for large-scale communications - Traditional TV is less watched by younger
activities people
World wide - Main point of contact between user and - Perceived difficulty to set up high cost
web audience maintenance
- 24/7 interaction with target audiences  
Social media - Attract large number of people in short time - Very time consuming to engage directly with
- Bring people together followers
- Easy feedback - Cannot control the message or how people
- Place for real-life experiences to be exchanged react to online contents
- Bad news can go viral
- Negative feedback cannot be ignored
 Evaluating Your Information Sources
When the information suits your needs, it is considered of good quality. To measure information
quality, you may consider the following aspects.

1. The information provided by a source is credible reliable. One aspects of judging credibility of
information are the reputation of the source. The authoritativeness of the information and the
source must be readily verifiable; otherwise, the information may not be useful.
2. Breadth and depth of the discussion on a topic is also a consideration. The extent of the
research done by the source to organize the information is an indication of rigor and
judiciousness. A lazy source is one who is content on providing secondary and tertiary sources
as well as popular and less academic information.
3. The information can be cross-reference. This means that the information can also be checked
in other sources and can be supported by them.
4. The manner on how the information has been dealt with by the source is ethical and legal.
Fact, Opinion, and Bias
 What is a Fact?
A fact is a statement that can be proven or
disproved using objective data. It is something
that is known to exist or to have happened. A fact
may include supporting evidence, such as
statistics or quotations form a recognized expert.
What is an Opinion?
An opinion is based on a belief or viewpoint. Opinions
are often personal interpretations and cannot be verified.
Opinions express a judgment or an interpretation and
are sometimes preceded by words such as “I think,” or
with adjectives such as “good,” or “better,” “best.” They
cannot be proven to be true or false.
What is Bias?
Bias is defined as attitude in favor of or against one
thing, person, or group compared with another. In
information sources, bias can be created when the
source gives incomplete information or when the
source’s personal experience is influencing the message.
Biased words express opinions, value judgments, and
interpretations and are often loaded with emotion.
Determining Fact, Opinion, and Bias
1. Underline or take note of the facts in the source. Can they be validated?
2. Look for the opinions. What is the prevailing tone? Is it positive or negative?
3. What do you know about the source of the information?
4. How might experiences or the background of this source “color” the writer’s opinions?
5. Do you think the source intentionally uses bias to persuade, or is it unintentional?
6. How biased is the article? Can the writer be trusted, or is the bias too strong for a clear
understanding of the topic?
7. Learn more about identifying false information. Read about fake news and other kinds
of disinformation.
Thank you 