Can a Document be Oral?

Research consistently indicates that professionals rely heavily on oral information. However, our understanding of orality as a mode to convey information remains limited. One approach to remedying this knowledge gap lies in exploring whether oral information may be approached in a manner consistent with approaches to non-oral information, specifically information in documents. This paper explores research in document studies, information behavior, and social constructionism in an effort to increase disciplinary knowledge about information made available orally. Partial results of a study conducted to conceptualize and empirically observe oral documents are presented including: (1) a discussion on how the literature supports the concept of an oral document and (2) a presentation of empirical data that demonstrates an utterance can incorporate the properties of a document. Discussions of the implications, research design limitations, and recommendations for future research conclude this presentation.