Information, Education and Communication: Printed and Duplicated Materials


What?
Books: Present knowledge and experience systematically and thoroughly. Make Thinking of best minds of all times and places available at convenience of reader.
Pamphlets: Provide knowledge and experience in special areas in condensed form. In expensive.
Study guides, programmed Instruction: Provide progressive learning experiences towards predetermined goals.
Discussion guides: Enable inexperienced groups to move their thinking in directions set by others.
Manuals: Give instruction in performance of skills.
Newspapers, magazines,Reporter, periodicals,catalogues: Provide reports of current events and contemporary ideas. Readily available. Inexpensive.
Bibliographies, Reading lists: Provide over-view of literature available on selected subjects.
It is a low participation media but it commends itself to swift and widespread communication of information to individuals. (our goal is to reach all our fertile couples at least once a year with printed material.) A booklet is on the more timely end of a time spectrum and as such can be used for information for study reflection and is effective in correlating a society response. (our hope is of course that printed F. P. information is also Kept in the drawer to be used again later, eg. As a result of discussions. It can be used for principle and organized meaning as well as for persuasion because of its permanence

The effectiveness and advantages of a booklet are the same as for most pointed material:
  1. The reader controls the exposure.
  2. Exposure may be and often is repeated.
  3. Treatment may be fuller.
  4. Specialized appeal is possible.
  5. Possible greater prestige.


There are some drawbacks in the use of printed material, eg. If the audience has less reading skill, but as Dr. Bogue Underlines (2), there is often quick diffusion in a spite of this. Here follows his appreciation of the written word in Brief:

  1. It is cheap.
  2. It is durable.
  3. It is accurate.
  4. It is private.
  5. It is authoritative and credible.
  6. It reaches the persons who are the community leaders and who will be most inclined to spread the Family Planning message through private channels.
  7. It can make the receiver a spokesman for the cause (here Family Planning).
  8. The receiver, a literate person, is among the group most likely to be an early adopter.


In comparison with other media it is interesting to note that as regards elicit retention of simple and brief material, Printed material is less effective than a voice (particularly amongst less intelligent persons) but not so as regards complex Or lengthy material. It should be noted however, that the use of both media gives the best retention results.

As an instrument of persuasion it is found that the face-to face communicator is the most effective in modifying Opinions. Radio comes as second, and last the printed word. This may be because the listener gets a sense Of personal access from eg. The radio which is absent from the printed media. The retention of messages received by The screen, when compared by these received by printed material is greater, and the slow drop of the curve of Forgetting is striking. Again, a film is often shown only once

Attention factors and visual matters(properly pretested) can add considerably to the effect of printed word in fact, A good booklet cover will at first work as a Poster, then lead the reader on by use of interesting visuals, headlines And other lay-out arrangements. Printed F. P. Material for the field will be used for two tasks: One, to generate interest, provide information and Knowledge, change opinions and attitudes as well as stimulate action. The other task is to go as far as possible to Develop social support means that you factual information should be interlaced with successions that others are Doing it and benefit from it. Furthermore, if the material is distributed on masse it is not simple to spread Information but to spread a sense of social rightness, even righteousness about the practice (3).

Research suggest and it is reasonable to conclude that there are many advantages in arranging for complete saturation Or even a redundant supply of printed material from time to time in the form of persuasive communication.

PRINCIPLES IN PREPARATION:

  1. PLANNING CRITERIA FOR PLANNING:

    Ascertain the resources available at the present moment. It such a material as you proposed to produce are available in the community, preparation of such materials need not be taken up. Know your requirements in advance. This can be if you have a calendar of events usually planning every year. Know your requirements which are to be produced at short notice. This is covered by production of materials For emergencies. Revision of existing materials running out of stock. On the basis of these, work out a list of items to be prepared.
  2. WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE?

    Decide on the group you want to reach through the publication-their age, sex, occupation, educational Background, cultural background. Information on these will be helpful in the preparation of material as each group has different emotional appeal, attitudes and needs. The material has to be tailored to these requirements.
  3. WHO ARE GOING TO USE MATERIAL/HOW AND IN WHAT SITUATION?

    At the outset it will be useful to decide as to who should use a particular material. Is it a public health nurse Or a demonstrator or the community leader or a member or the Mahila Samaj who is going to use the material? A material prepared in the light of this information will lead to an effective use of the same. What is the distribution plan? Is it to be mailed or distributed at a meeting or a mela? Such Information will help decide on the size of the publication and the timing of its production. In What situations this will be used in a hospital situation or in an industrial workers Carter or in a mothers Club? This has a bearing on the type of information to be given in the publication proposed.
  4. WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF THE MATERIAL?

    Unless you are sure of the objectives or the aims the material wants to achieve you will be grouping in the dark either it will contain too much information or too little. Either way it becomes useless. Is it the aim of the publication to change the behavior of the audience? Is it to make them attend a meeting? This must be made clear before you start your work. Also setting up an objective (S) will help evaluate the material in question.
  5. WHAT IS YOUR MESSAGE?

    What do you want to tell your audience, what you want them to know and to do? If you are planning A publication on Food and Health, You could cover quite a lot of ground. But knowing your audience you will decide on what and how much you would like to cover. This must be decided upon quite early.
  6. HOW TO PRESENT MESSAGE?

    Under this head a number of points have to be considered. There is a question about the form your Publication should take whether it should be in the form of story, question and answer, or folk songs; How much of illustrations should be used, etc. An important principle is that the language used should be simple and non-technical so that Lay public will understand the message. Try to find answers to the following question. Is the language adapted to the readers? Are the words the simplest that carry the thoughts? Do the words used express the thoughts correctly? Are the ideas presented in a sequential order? Does each paragraph contain only one idea? Is the writing free from technical jargons, cliches or picture stories?
  7. ARE YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT?

    This is yet another area where utmost care should be taken. This is all the more important for us being Official agencies. People take for granted whatever goes out from Government. Before finally sending your material for publication make sure that the material is accurate and also it is not in any way conflicting with official policy. If necessary, get your material vetted by the programme chiefs or technical experts. Are your suggestions workable? It should be ensured that the suggestions that have been made are Physically possible for the people to implement, culturally acceptable to them and financially feasible.
  8. PRE-TESTING FOR LANGUAGE EASE AND COMPREHENSION:

    More often, in spite of best efforts to write in simple language to suit the different target groups. We Find out material not clicking. This is exposed when the material is evaluated. Before finally getting the material Printed or cyclostyled for wide distribution some of these defects can be removed if we pre-test the material with a simple group of the target audience. As you prepare the script, this aspect could be cleared if we look into the construction of sentences, Selection of words, etc., to make the material easy to read and understand. To ensure reading ease and keep reader Interest, always use short sentences-not more than 14 words more of single syllable words and personal words And sentences. Take the material in the rough form to a group of persons and make them read the same. Then you Can administer them a questionnaire seeking to elicit information on the languages used, the suggestions Made-whether they are practicable or not, etc. the understandability, etc. The questionnaire should be based On the material you have presented in the manuscript and elicit reaction on the content. On the basis of the replies received the script can be amended so as t make it more readable and Understandable. Note: You need not go in for a very scientific pretest but a rough and easy-to-do method can be resorted to. I am not in the least suggesting that you should not (repeat not) go in for a scientific pre-test. If You have the time and resources, please by all means go ahead.
  9. HOW WILL YOUR PUBLICATION LOOK?

    It is one thing to prepare material in simple, non-technical language for the different target groups but It is quite another thing to make the material attractive. What will be the first impression of any-one who sees it? Will be take it to read through? The cover design and the Colour scheme should be considered. Make the heading Any pages attractive by giving suitable paragraph headlines, selecting illustrations and type faces. A good and Attractive layout will make the people take up the publication and go through it. Depending on the finances you have and the use to which the material will be put, a decision can be taken on the process of production. Do you want them to be printed or cyclosatyled?
  10. EVALUATION:

    Though pre-test shows the defects that should be cleared before going in for wide distribution, evaluation is necessary to know whether the aim we set forth has been achieved. The evaluation should be based on the objective of the publication. Such an evaluation can be done by questioning the readers. Seeing the action that is taking place and the material can be revised when an occasion arise.