Welcome to the Information Cycle! The Information Cycle is all around us.
From Twitter, to online newspapers, to academic journals.
How are all these information sources related?
Let’s begin by defining the Information Cycle.
The Information Cycle is the progression of events over time, processed by media.
In the moments after an event, the Information Cycle begins.
This cycle continues in the hours, days, weeks, months, and years after the event.
It includes all information about the event over time across all media formats.
So then, how is the Information Cycle useful for you?
Understanding how information is created, how it is transmitted, and how it changes over time will help you become a better researcher.
This knowledge will help you to understand what information is available and where to find it, making you a more effective in assessing and
identifying relevant sources for your topic.
As an example, let’s look at the Japanese Tsunami and see how an Information Cycle begins and changes across time.
From the broadcast:
"As Japan reels from its worst earthquake in recorded history,
new pictures emerge of the tsunami that slammed into the eastern seaboard.
National broadcasts of NHK captured the moment the waves hit the city of Kamaishi.
Terrified residents rushed to the safety of higher ground and watched;
the power of water unleashed and made all too clear
Across the east coast, it was a similar scene of devastation. This amateur video showed houses being crushed like tin cans.
Communities have begun the long and painful process of rebuilding their lives.
Rescue teams are searching for the missing along hundreds of kilometers of coast.
They're combing through towns and villages that have been reduced to splinters.
'Is it a dream? I just feel like I'm in a movie or something. Whenever I'm alone, I have to pinch my cheek to check whether it's a dream or not.'
Infrastructure, such as the airport in Sendai city, remain disabled, making it hard to get aid to those who need it most.
Some emergency supplies are being moved to the worst-hit areas.
The U.S. military is using its large airbase in Okinawa to get food and medical supplies to victims.
But this Japanese Air Force base in Miyagi Prefecture was not spared.
Thousands of people have been moved to temporary shelters, while relatives searched for missing loved ones.
'My son might have been engulfed by the tsunami. I hope he's taking shelter somewhere. I'm struggling to locate him.'
Azhar Sukri, Al Jazeera"
On March 11, 2011 a magnitude 9.0 undersea earthquake ruptured off the Eastern coast of Japan.
This was the largest known earthquake to ever hit Japan and the fifth largest in modern history.
This triggered a massive tsunami which attained heights of 133 feet and
reached up to six miles inland, killing over 15,000 people
Given the widespread nature of the disaster, mass confusion resulted in the immediate aftermath.
In the moments after the earthquake, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sources
were used to broadcast the effects of the earthquake,
to provide accounts of damage, and to communicate the safety of family members worldwide.
Also in the moments after the earthquake, Japan’s national public broadcast stations, NHK and Japan Satellite Television,
suspended their regular programming to provide live coverage of the event.
These reports were on-going and provided a visual element along with limited reports as they became available.
Meanwhile, online news outlets across the world developed and produced stories,
often with fragmented facts as they emerged in the confusion of the aftermath.
Written by journalists, these news reports were quickly generated,
often with limited detail or verification. Later articles published online and in print newspapers will become more detailed with greater verification.
As reports came in by the minute, these stories evolved and became part of the Information Cycle.
In the hours after the tsunami, news reports written by journalists began to become longer and more focused,
but still remained limited in verification.
So far, the Information Cycle includes social media, broadcast news, including television and radio, and online newspapers
Together, these sources can be considered the first draft of history.
These stories are quickly produced by eye witnesses, citizen journalists, and professional journalists,
often with limited verification in the hours after the event.
These articles are focused on the 'who, what, where, and why' of the event
first hand accounts of the event are excellent for use as primary resources
As a new sun rose over Japan, worldwide newspapers published longer stories written by journalists for the general public.
Reports created the day after the event is the next step in the Information Cycle.
These articles summarized the events of the tsunami and sought to apply a chronology of the event:
from the earthquake, to the tsunami and the catastrophe it produced,
to the ongoing rescue and damage assessment.
These articles also contained statistics and photographs, as well as statements from officials and experts to provide a broader context
to the event. Given the enormity of the tsunami and its after-effects, these articles and reports
generally focused on providing an overview of the event.
These longer-form newspaper articles are also published online and are updated almost as soon as new information becomes available.
This can lead to occasionally incorrect information being published.
For example, after initially publishing articles which indicated the Fukushima nuclear reactor was safe and had shut down properly
based on government statements, it emerged that in-fact there had been a catastrophic failure of the reactor, and
there was a potential for a complete meltdown.
The Fukushima disaster became a news cycle itself within the larger context of the Japan Tsunami.
While online news reports updated articles and headlines minute-by-minute, Twitter and Facebook accounts also updated,
broadcast, and added their own commentary to this unfolding event.
In the days after, written by journalists and reviewed by editors, news articles become more in-depth as information is made available.
Occasionally, incorrect information can be published in the confusion of an event.
If this happens, corrections will be published.
These articles are compiled by professional journalists and are considered secondary sources.
In the weeks after the event, the Information Cycle progresses.
Weekly news magazines, such as Time and Newsweek, produced long-form articles which provided greater detailed analysis and
overview of the Fukushima meltdown. This article for example provided a scientific explanation of the principles of nuclear reactors
and how and why the meltdown occurred, in addition to discussion of the potential threats of a meltdown.
These articles are written by journalists who combine primary sources and reports, with analysis by
experts and government officials, into articles for the general public.
Written in the week and weeks after the event, longer magazine articles are written by journalists who combine primary sources and
reports with analysis by experts and government officials.
These articles are written for the general audience to be informative.
These sources are useful for current, up-to-date information and interviews with citizens and experts alike.
When used for research, these citations are secondary sources.
In the months after the Japan Tsunami, more comprehensive and detailed information and reports were gathered, researched, and
analyzed by experts. One important group includes academics, across many disciplines.
Published in academic journals, this information includes highly detailed analysis, empirical research reports, and informed commentary
related to the event. These articles can be theoretical; for example, analyzing the impact of an event on social and culture norms.
They can also be highly scientific or technical, focusing on details or aspects of the event.
The Fukushima Disaster in particular has drawn the attention of diverse academic fields. For example,
neurological practitioners have assessed international standards for care of earthquake disaster victims,
while Geophysicists determined water current forces based on raw footage from survivors.
Before publication, academic journals go through the peer-review process. These articles contain original research,
review of literature, or analysis. Once authors submit papers to an academic journal, scholars review the article to determine if it should be
rejected for publication or accepted.
If accepted, articles may require resubmission with corrections and revisions.
The thoroughness of the peer-review process takes time; articles are generally published six months to a year after submission.
Academic articles become part of the information cycle once they are published and
continue to be, as they are cited in future research and studies.
Academic research and articles continue to be published in the years and even decades after an event.
In the months after, academic articles are published. The peer-review process of academic articles ensures a high-level of accuracy and credibility.
Published articles include detailed analysis, data, results, and conclusions, along with extensive bibliographies.
These articles are useful for in-depth, academic analysis of an issue and are ideal for research and citation.
The next step in the Information Cycle occurs in the year and years after an event, when books are published.
The focus of books can be very broad. For example, an article from an academic journal, Geophysics,
has been expanded and become part of a sourcebook, focused on future design and mitigation of tsunamis.
Meanwhile, this popular book, for example, took a photojournalist approach,
combining images with essays and poems from survivors of the disaster.
Book topics can range significantly.
Written by scholars, academic books contribute in-depth research to their respective academic fields.
These academic books contain references and cite sources in their bibliographies.
In the beginning moments of an event, the Information Cycle begins:
The first sources of information are released through online news sites, tv and radio stations, and increasingly, through social media.
These are often quick and shorts snapshots which provide a sketch of the event.
Verified facts are limited at this stage of the Information Cycle.
The Information Cycle moves forward the next day after the event.
Print and online articles provide a chronology and overview to provide the how and why of the event.
These sources are more factual and provide a deeper context of the events.
In the weeks after the event, long-form stories appear in weekly magazines that discuss the impact of an event on
the society, culture, economics, or public policy.
Six months to a year after an event, this information becomes published in academic journals.
In this turn of the Information Cycle, detailed analysis, empirical research reports, and learned commentary add to previous
publications. These information sources provide detailed analysis of the event that is often theoretical.
Most importantly, these sources are peer-reviewed, assuring a high level of accuracy and intellectual rigor.
In the months and years after the event, book publication contributes to the Information Cycle, detailing and often expanding themes,
topics, subject, and analysis begun in academic research and published journals.