Brent M. Jones - Connected Events Matter

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What Determines Relevance and How Important is it to Communication?

Understanding the difference between importance and relevance is a key step in this exploration. It's important to note that while importance is author-defined, relevance is something that readers actively assign to information based on their needs and interests.

This could suggest that a good starting point for an author is to determine if the planned thoughts are essential to the intended reader. In addition, it validates the idea that the customer is always right because it is the customer who, like the reader, assigns the relevance to the product.

When something is "relevant," it matters. Its relevance is clear. Relevance is simply the noun form of the adjective "relevant," which means "important to the matter at hand." Artists and politicians are always worried about their relevance.

So, what does it mean when a book is relevant? In the context of a novel, relevance is a truth that always holds, even if we didn't see it before. When a novel is relevant, it's like a snap! We suddenly feel a connection to our lives or the world around us. This is the power and purpose of relevance.

Relevance considers the information's importance to your research needs. To determine relevance, the purpose and bias must be understood, and all aspects of evaluation must be considered.