Linear medium

A linear medium is any medium which is intended to be written to or accessed in a linear fashion, literally meaning in a line.

This means that the information is written to or read from the medium in a given order, so for example a book containing a novel is intended to be read from front to back, beginning to end, and is therefore a linear medium. It may be written in the same way, but would not necessarily need to be, to be considered a linear medium. A book containing an encyclopedia however is a non-linear medium, as it is not necessary for the articles to be accessed (or written) in any particular order. Even though both non-linear and linear mediums have perimeters to which they are restricted, linear mediums have a set path of how to get from point A to point B, whereas non-linear mediums do not.

Examples in technology are a pre-recorded videocassette which is usually accessed one item after another, compared with a pre-recorded DVD which can be accessed in any order.

Types of linear medium

• Scroll
• Magnetic tape data storage
• Paper tape
• Photographic film
• story books
• Compact cassettes

See also

• Serial access
• Sequential access
• Random access