L11

• Communication


  A process and practice
• Communication is ongoing and its process even when you do not speak because even your nonverbal gestures mean something to another person
• Communication is such a complex human activity that even those who are in the field of communication vary in the way they understand it
• Communication cannot be halted at any one moment
• Communication

  A simultaneous exchange of codes among people
• Communication

  Abstract and requires interpretation of every word or utterance as these are merely representations of one's thoughts
• Communication


  Guides people in creating both their subjective and objective realities
• Communicare


  Latin word meaning "to share" or "to divide out"
• Commune


  English counterpart/variation of Latin word communis meaning "working together"
• Evolution of communication

  1. Preliterate age - use of sound to express a thought

  2. Print age - Johannes Gutenberg's mechanized printing press

  3. Electronic age - invention of various forms of mass media
• Communication as an area of inquiry in related fields

  • Psychology - communication as a behavior and expression of inner thoughts
  • Sociology - communication as the core of social formation
  • Anthropology - communication makes cultural formation and maintenance possible
• Meaning


  The heart of communication
• Meaning


  Can be either suggested (implied) or literal (explicit)
• Core values of communication

  • Personal identity and health - humans need to interact
  • Relationship values - "humans are wired to connect"
  • Professional values - maintaining a productive and harmonious atmosphere
  • Societal values - being an open listener
• Characteristics of communication


  • It is an integral part of the process of exchange
  • It flows up and down and also from side to side
  • It is central to human living
  • It involves at least two persons
  • Messages are a must
  • It is written, oral or gestural
  • It is a two-way process
  • Its primary purpose is to motivate a response
  • It is formal or informal
• Perspectives on communication


  • Communication is the key through which humans come together
  • Communication did not become a field of its own until some scholars became extremely interested in learning more about it
  • Communication in the preliterate age involved the mere use of sounds to express a thought
  • Communication was still used for propaganda and in shaping people's opinion on issues
  • Communication is highly interdisciplinary, borrowing theories and explanations from other fields
• Transmission model of communication


  Describes communication as a one-way, linear process in which a sender encodes a message and transmits it through a channel to a receiver who decodes it
• Transmission models


  • Harold Lasswell's model
  • Shannon and Weaver's model - included noise
  • George Gerbner's model
  • Bruce Westley and Malcolm MacLean Jr.'s model - considered the more general term "communicator"
• Ritual or expressive models


  Communication depends on shared understandings and emotions, is celebratory, consummatory and decorative rather than utilitarian, and often requires some element of 'performance'
• Publicity models


  Communication professionals use persuasion to shape the thoughts and opinions of key audiences, accuracy is not important, and organizations do not seek audience feedback or conduct audience analysis research
• Reception models / transactional model


  The sender and the receiver are in a loop and constantly change roles
• Berlo's model


  Accounted for factors that affect how communicators are influenced when they send and receive a message, including communication skills, knowledge, attitude, and social/cultural aspects
• Critical thinking in communication


  Effective communication requires critiquing and evaluating the communication process itself to further improve it
• Issues and concerns in mass communication

  • Relations with politics and state - political campaigns, propaganda, citizen participation, war, peace, terrorism, foreign policy, oppression, liberation, revolution
  • Cultural and social issues - globalization, cultural life and production, identity, social experience, crime, violence, pornography, deviance, information inequality, consumerism, leisure time
  • Normative questions - freedom of speech, media norms, ethics, professionalism, policy, regulation, concentration, diversity
  • Power and effects - shaping of public opinion, fashion, celebrities
• Levels of communication

  • Intrapersonal - self-introspection, reflection, conscience checking
  • Interpersonal - face-to-face or virtual, mediated
  • Small group - small number of people interacting for a purpose
  • Public - a speaker addressing several listeners
  • Mass - interaction between a source and a vast audience