What is communication?

What is communication?

1. Transmission Perspective

   • Harold Lasswell (1948)
     • Who?
     • Says what?
     • In which channel?
     • To whom?
     • With what effect?
     • Assumes intention
     • Assumes verbal communication
     • Uni-directional
     • Assumes direct effect
     • Assumes human actors
     • De-contextualised
   • Shannon and Weaver (1949)
     • Tried to find communication technique that would eiminate noise
     • Information Source
       • Transmitter
         • NOISE SOURCE
           • Reciever
             • Destination
     • Message
       • Channel
         • Message
   • Narrowest, the transmission of information
     • is information narrow?
   • 'communication' coined in C19 during industrial revolution
     • A transport, railway metaphor
     • message-orientated
   • how was nazi propaganda so successful?
     • plus capitalism and advertising
   • George Miller
   • Managing Information in Public Organisations
   • Public relations, business management, efficiency

2. Semiotics Perspective

   • broader, meaning through signs and codes
     • Anything that humans use in a meaningful way becomes a sign
     • Focus is on finding regular patterns, rules or codes
     • shared knowledge, common consensus

3. Cultural Practice Perspective

   • communication as cultural practice (social semiotics), this is the broadest
     • we communicate constantly
     • everything we do conveys meaning to others
     • Finnegan: human interconnectedness
     • communication is social, cultural and political, context is important
     • emotional reactions
     • meaning emerges from interaction, it is negotiated
     • meanings constantly change and adapt
     • receiver is as important and creator
   • Trump
     • Hall et al
     • Hristova (2017)
     • mirroring
     • The Fool says what others can't
     • anti-establishment
     • Westen (2007)
   • Culture
     • social organisation
     • ideology
       • tangible culture
       • intangible culture
         • beliefs
         • values
         • norms
           • absolute
     • socialisation
       • formal education
       • informal learning

4. To exchange information with others, either consciously or subconsciously.

   • Depending on the political, social and cultural context of the interaction.