Week 2 Lecture: Are We Communication?

It's interesting to see how the definition of communication has evolved. Two and a half thousand years ago, communication, as defined by Aristotle, was a simple model: "The speaker produces a message that is heard by the listener". This model however assumes several things; the speaker himself creates the message that is heard, the listener receives the message first-hand (face to face), the listener interprets the same meaning as the speaker, and that communication is audible only. Two and a half thousand years later, we have discovered communication to be something vastly complex and constantly evolving. Nowadays, communication has been intricately modeled as, "The speaker produces an effect on the transmitter which sends a message (which is degraded by the noise of the transmission process) that is intercepted by the receiver which converts it into an effect that is heard by the listener" by Shannon and Weaver in their book 'The Mathematical Theory of Communication'. This model takes into account the complexities of intersubjectivity and intertexuality; where the listener's interpretation is beheld to the parameters of his own experiences (Glynn, 1998), and where all messages sent by the communicator gain their meaning from past texts that relate, therefore no message is ever complete in itself (Chandler, 1994).

Just when you think that the definition of communication can't possibly get any more complex; I would unfortunately like to suggest that indeed, it does. There are several factors such as tone, body language, and context that can completely change the meaning of something being communicated (Krow, 2012). Even the words we say over facebook can carry a tone, with our manipulation of grammar to do so. Talking to friends in person as compared to over facebook and texting has taught me how easy it is for messages to become misinterpreted through technology. However, as the Shannon and Weaver model suggests, we do not have control over the interpretation that the receiver deciphers, therefore we constantly need to make wise choices and learn to communicate everything with clarity to try avoid misinterpretation that is so common with these new communication technologies.

References

Chandler, D 1994, Semiotics For Beginners, viewed 15 August 2012, <http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem09.html>

Glynn, S 1998, Identity, Intersubjectivity, and Communicative Action, viewed 15 August 2012, <http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Cult/CultGlyn.htm> 

Krow, S 2012, Factors That May Affect Effective Communication, viewed 30 August 2012, <http://www.ehow.com/info_8131861_factors-may-affect-effective-communication.html>