A Taxonomy of Communication Media

The monograph defines and describes communication media; discusses the difference between information and instruction, instructional media and instructional aids; and proposes a set of criteria by means of which communication media may be distinguished from nonmedia, one medium distinguished from another, and a single medium distinguished from multimedia applications. A two-dimensional classification system for communication media is proposed: in one dimension, seven classes are defined, based on ways of representing information; in the other, communication media are divided into two groups, telemedia and recording media. Twenty-eight specific communication media are defined and described. This list includes the major available and soon-to-be-available media. (Author)