Audio Visual Materials:
The ever increasing amount of information covering educational and recreational interest as well as information needs is being produced in a wide range of AV formats. Access to these materials should be as open and as free as access to print based materials.
AV media are part of our cultural heritage, carrying a huge amount of information that needs to be preserved for future use. The rich variety of media expressions in society should be reflected in the services offered to users by the libraries.
Library professionals as information providers should be concerned with the provision of information in the formats most suited to the differing needs of various types of users, each of which must be clearly differentiated. AV materials can reach out to sections of the public for whom the traditional print based materials have little impact, e.g. to those who are reluctant to use the printed word and to those with visual and other handicaps.
In developing countries the provision of AV materials and their associated equipment might be regarded as of greater importance than the printed word because the level of literacy is such that oral and visual expressions are essential for the purposes of communication.
In no circumstances should AV materials be regarded as additional luxury materials but rather they should be considered as necessary components in a fully integrated library service. But in case of the libraries of the electronic media, the AV materials are the main components where the books and other printed materials seem to be additional items (“Guidelines for Audiovisual and Multimedia Materials in Libraries and other Institutions” 2004).
Needs and Advantages of Audio Visual Materials:
Considerable evidence has been accumulated on the effectiveness of AV materials as compared with conventional means of instruction. In TV media the AV materials are used to help speakers get their message effectively communicated to their audience. In addition there are other reasons for using these materials, (Cheek & Beeman, 1990) such as:
• AV aids make us more persuasive. It is found that presenters using visuals conduct meetings in less time, increase audience retention and get proposals approved more often. Also the presenter appears clearer, more concise, more professional, more interesting and make better use of supporting data.
• The message with the help of AV aids is transmitted more efficiently. The proverb “A picture is worth a thousand words” is true. If we want the audience to understand new trickle irrigation used in vegetable gardening, the message will be transmitted better if the audience can see the components of trickle irrigation.
• The audiences’ attention is focused more completely. The ebb and flow of the audiences’ attention is inevitable. The challenge for the speaker is to direct the audiences’ attention at strategic periods. AV aids provide one mechanism to direct and focus attention.
• The receivers retain the message better. Research has clearly shown that people retain more of what they see and hear compared to what they learn only orally. Research again has found that retention of messages after three days is only 10 percent following an oral presentation, but is 65 percent following an oral and visual presentation.
• People have come to expect visuals. Today’s world is used to visual compared to just a few decades ago. The average person is visually oriented and accustomed to visual presentation. Thus, a strictly oral presentation is boring to the majority of the people.
• Visual materials help establish organization for presentations. One of the most effective uses of visual materials is establishing overall organization for the presentation. Audiences look for order in everything they experience. If the structure of a presentation is shown at the beginning of a presentation, a cognitive framework is established for what is to come.
• Visual materials add variety and emphasis to the presentation. A variety of different teaching methods and techniques are useful with the help of AV materials.
• Messages are presented both aurally and visually. People process information best by hearing and seeing. With the help of AV aids, people can communicate at best.
• Visuals help us to be concise. We are forced to distil our ideas down to their essence when using visuals, force us to order and sequence the ideas to be presented.
Advantage of Audio Visual Materials:
- Space saving: The AV materials are space saving. A long story can be kept in the form of a drama or any other else in a single video tape. The Video tapes are being smaller in size day by day. At present it can be stored in a file format in the hard disk.
- Security: The AV materials used in TV media rarely leave the studio campus because of the special equipment’s required for their use. One copy of the programmes can be kept permanently (Master Copy) and on the other hand, one duplicate copy can be used so that it can reduce considerably the destruction or loss of vital information.
- Reproducibility: The AV materials can be reproduced in other tapes at nominal cost within a short time and in the studio complex itself
- Accessibility and portability: The AV materials generally take up little space; very small libraries can provide access to thousands of documents. These documents can easily be transported from one place to another.
- Economy in transportation: The AV contents can be transported easily via Internet. In case of DD network, feeding system is the best practice for transportation of visuals. Feeding system is that the sender DDK transmitted the message in air in a particular frequency and the receiver DDK captures the message in a tape. So it is very quick and urgent in transportation of news items.
Features of Audio Visual Materials:
The TV media transmit all information with the help of audio and video. So good message design is also important matter. It can be defined some principles (Cheek & Beeman, 1990) as below:
- Simplicity : The audio and video should be very simple, easily understandable by all common people.
- Harmony : The elements of the visual should fit together in a harmonious relationship. Colour layout, style of presentation, background should be balanced.
- Emphasis : Emphasis should be given as per spectator’s interest as such that the programme can attract a good number of spectators.
- Organization : The visuals should be arranged in a pattern that is easy for the viewers to comprehend.
Balance : The elements of the visuals should be arranged in a manner which is interesting but not destructing. - Clarity : The audio and video should be mixed in a logical manner as such the message to be provided to the people can be made more clearer.
Original Research Article:
- Barman, S. K. (n.d.). Audio visual materials and their management and preservation in television media organizations. Retrieved from: http://hdl.handle.net/10603/18149