5.2 Communicate your information

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It is important to choose a communication medium that best supports the purpose of your information product and its intended audience.

Some points to consider when choosing a medium include:

• Why are you communicating?
• What are you communicating?
• Who are you communicating with?

Why are you communicating?

Reasons for communicating can vary.

You might be:

• submitting formal assessment
• corresponding with a friend
• engaging an audience
• disseminating information to the community.

What are you communicating?

Factors to consider when determining what communication medium to use include:

• Have you been given guidelines?
• How much detail is needed?
• How much time do you have?

Who are you communicating with?

When determining what technology to use, consider your audience:

• Are you communicating to one person or many?
• Will you be using the technology or will they?
• What hardware and software does your audience have at their disposal?
• What are their computer skills?

One person or many?

• When communicating with one person, a word processed document or e-mail can be used.
• To communicate with a group, e-mail is effective.
• Making a presentation to a group can be enhanced with a PowerPoint or multimedia presentation.
• To make information available to many people worldwide, the Internet can be used.

Do they have the necessary technology and skills?

It is necessary to consider whether the people you are communicating with have the necessary technology and skills to receive your message:

• Do they have compatible hardware and software?
• Do they know how to use it?

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