Communication Model Exchange Values Audience

Speaker Audience text Aristotle’s Communication Model

“truth is the property of linguistic entities, of sentences” “truth is a property of sentences, since sentences are dependent for their existence upon vocabularies, and since vocabularies are made by human beings, so are truths.” Richard Rorty on Truth and Language

How much is this worth to you?

How much is this worth to you?

Symbols  Meanings

Semiotic Communication Model (Saussure) “Symbol System” SIGN = Signified + Signifier (concept) (sound-image) How do people encode and decode messages?

Knowledge – frame of reference, background, experiences Demographics – age, economic status, gender, race, religion, etc. Personality (skeptical? believing?) Values, beliefs (saving money? having a good time?) Past Behavior (likely to buy it again?) Communication climate – setting, context, etc. (“I can’t hear you. Literally.” OR “You said I’m terrible at choosing paint colors!”) Understanding is shaped by the ways in which we encode and decode messages

Planning - Types of Audiences Primary Audience Decides whether to accept your recommendation Acts on the basis of your message Secondary Audiences Advise the primary audience whether to accept your recommendation Implement your recommendation Are affected by your recommendation May examine your message years after it was written for research or legal purposes

Initial Audience First audience to see message May assign message Gatekeeper Has the power to stop the message rather than sending it on to other audiences Watchdog Audiences Have political, social, or economic power and may base future actions on their evaluations of your message

PAGOS purpose audience genre organization style

PAGOS Purpose, Audience, Genre, Organization, Style Purpose –What do you need to accomplish? –What information do you need to include to accomplish your purpose?

Audience –Who is primary audience? Additional Audiences? –What is their background? (demographic, experiential) –What do they know/need to know? –What are the benefits to them? Objections? (how are they likely to respond) –What is the context in which they might read the document? Genre –What genres might be appropriate? –What are the conventions of the genre(s)?

Organization –How to organize? –Broad  narrow, narrow  broad, frontloading, parts of a whole, chronological –Buffer bad news? Straight to the point? Style –Writing style – cordial, sympathetic, informative, concise –Lists? Headings? Paragraphs? –Non-textual concerns – visual aids, non-textual elements, graphical elements, visual interest