Lecture 1

What do I mean by ‘communication’? Clip 1 Clip 1

Skimming through definitions Communication takes place when one mind so acts upon its environment that another mind is influenced, and in that other mind an experience occurs which is like the experience in the first mind, and is caused in part by that experience (I.A. Richards 1928, Britannica)

… we have communication wherever one system, a source, influences another, the destination, by manipulation of alternative symbols, which can be transmitted over the channel connecting them. (Osgood et. al )

The transmission of information, ideas, attitudes, or emotion from one person or group to another (or others) primarily through symbols. (Theodorson and Theodorson 1969)

Communication may be defined as social interaction through messages. (Gerbner 1967)

Summing up: the components of communication process Communication implies a sender, a channel, a receiver, a relationship between sender and receiver, an effect, a context in which communication occurs and a range of things to which messages refer. Sometimes, but not always: an intention, or purpose to communicate or to receive. Communication can be any or all of the following: an action on others; an interaction with others and a reaction to others. (McQuail&Windahl 1993, Communication Models, 2nd ed, p. 5)

(McQuail, p. 18)

Mass media? The mass media refer to the organized means of communicating openly, at a distance, and to many in a short space of time. (McQuail, p. 4) Blurring definitional borders:  new media and Internet  narrowcasting  network society

Media in relation to society & culture A social history of media development:  from the church monopoly on word to a new ‘balance of power’  four magic words: globalisation, concentration, convergence, deregulation

Researching media & (mass) communication Four perspectives: a) media-culturalist b) media-materialist c) social-culturalist d) social-materialist