Presenting and exchanging information.

Presenting Information.

Some ways of presenting information are:

• through letters
• paper forms
• email notifications
• printed tickets
• screen-based (on a website)
• voice output over telephone
• or face to face
• voice output (announcements)
• visual matrix display

Examples of these are:

• Letters; electricity bills
• Paper forms; tax demands
• Emails; confirmation of an online purchase
• Tickets; for a show
• Screen-based; viewing bank statement online
• Voice output 1; enquiries into items up for sale
• Face-to-face; going into a bank to find information on a loan
• Voice output 2; train times being announced at a station
• Visual matrix display; looking at a board at the airport of all the different flight times; whether they have been delayed etc.

Exchanging Information.

A defacto standard is a typical form that information is exchanged by; e.g. Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel. Many people use this type of software for word processing or making a spreadsheet, so many organisations either have this software, or software that will read this type of file. A defacto standard means that data can be exchanged easily; as you do not have to worry about converting the file into a different format.

Another standard that exists for data exchange are CSV (comma seperated values). A company may consistently store their files in a certain format, but when exchanging with another company the format has to be changed. CSV is when each item of data is seperated by a marker - usually a comma.

Some examples of data exchanged between organisations are:

• School records, files, examination results. These are exchanged when a pupil moves school.
• Medical records and medical history; sent from your GP to the hospital when you are going to have an operation.