Scientific Communication Channels

Scientific information can be communicated in a number of different ways:

Formal printed channels

Scholarly communication normally leads to some type of formal publication (making public) results, findings, observations and views arising from the researcher's work. Traditionally these have taken the form of printed material. Libraries aim to acquire, register and store printed and other media of this formal type, thereby providing scholars with access to past work (or a portion of it).

The advantages of the formal printed channels are that:

  1. information can be spread to a widely scattered group of readers
  2. detailed information, such as descriptions of methods, tables, diagrams, results, etc, can easily be given
  3. printed documents contain information which can be critically examined and verified
  4. the documents can easily be referred to as, and when required
  5. published documents provide a means for establishing the "priority" of academic work, and thereby contribute to establishing academic merit for the author(s).
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Oral channels

Traditionally, the main forms of informal communication in science, technology, medicine etc. have been through verbal communication channels - personal contacts with colleagues and teachers - seminars, lectures, and discussions at conferences, fairs etc.

The advantages of oral channels of communication are that they:

  1. are fast - useful for obtaining very recent unpublished information
  2. are based on two-way communication and therefore promote an understanding of the real information need(s) and the communication of relevant information
  3. are flexible
  4. simplify and facilitate the transmission of information between people working in different subject areas (useful in interdisciplinary studies)
  5. are easy and pleasant to use

The disadvantages of oral channels of communication are that they:

  1. are not open to everyone - established researchers have access to good networks of contacts, but these usually take time to cultivate
  2. can lead to misconceptions because the information is sometimes incomplete (lack of detail etc.)
  3. are difficult to maintain and therefore unstable
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Electronic mail and electronic conferences

The Internet can be used for Electronic mail or e-mail , witch is a hybrid between informal and formal communication. This gives a rapid and relatively inexpensive method of direct communication between people or groups of people. E-mail has a number of advantages:

  • Communication is independent of global time differences.
  • Communication can take place even without the reciver having to be in place (contrast the telephone)
  • It is easy to transmit text documents
  • mail can be printed and stored if required

    • The network can be used to provide electronic conferencing facilities between users interested in a specific field or topic. This allows the user to exchange news and views and to seek advice from other with similar interests. An example of such a conferencing system is the USENET.

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