What is Communication? Güven Selçuk

The Definition of Communication “Communication ranges from the mass media (i.e. newspapers, magazines, radio and television) and popular culture (books, music, films), through language to individual and social behaviour.” (J. Fiske)

As John Fiske says, ''it is talking to one another, it is television, it is spreading information, it is our hair style, it is the way we dress, it is literary criticism.''

As one of the vital features of human beings, communication is experienced from the cradle to the grave and includes all of the intentional and unintentional dimensions in our relations with ourselves, with others, and with our environment.

Definition of communication: To share; To transmit; To exchange; Messages; Meanings; Information.

Some Dictionary Definitions Communication a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs or behaviour (Longman Dictionary) Communicate to transmit information, thought or feeling so that it is satisfactorily received or understood.

Why do we communicate. To survive. To work with others (cooperation) Why do we communicate? To survive. To work with others (cooperation). To satisfy our personal needs. To be involved with other people, to form and maintain relationships. To persuade other people to think in the way we do or to act in the way we do. To gain/exert power or to rebel against power. To give and receive information. To gain economic benefits. To make sense of the world and our experience of it. To decide on what we think and what we do. To express our imagination and ourselves to others.

Importance of communication As a social being one cannot not communicate. Through communication, and through the relations of communication, we define individual and collective identities  we become who we are in and through communication.

Features of Communication It is everywhere. It is continuous. It involves the sharing of meaning. It contains predictable elements. It occurs at more than one level. It occurs amongst both equals and unequals.

Levels of communication Intra-personal Inter-personal Group Organizational Mass

Communication science and the study of mass communication Concerns of communication theory and research Who communicates to whom? (sources and receivers) Why communicate? (functions and purposes) How does communication take place? (channels, languages, codes) What about? (content, references, types of information) What are the outcomes of communication (intended or unintended)?

For Example: physicalize a phone conversation

The picture can be described as: A man (speaks) Message (to) A telephone (connected by) Cables (to a) Receiver

In communications studies, this can be put as: Sender Code (Message) Medium Channel Receiver

Sender The information source Can be individual, group, and institution Image, credibility, and techniques of the sender have an effect on the outcome of the communication process

Code A system of meaning Sign: the basic physical vehicle of meaning in a language Encode: making code Decode: interpreting code

Medium The technical or physical means of converting the code (the message) into something that can be transmitted along the channel. Of course, media in their historical sense are quite different from today’s media. John Fiske distinguishes three types of media: The presentational media The representational media The mechanical media

The presentational media: the voice, the face, the body, and spoken words and gestures. These media are particularly important in face-to- face communications, but they can also be represented in other communications. The representational media: books, paintings, photographs, writing, films and, more recently, web-based information. The mechanical media: telephones, radio, television, computer, etc. Mechanical media are the transmitters of the two other media.

Channel The physical means of transmission Light waves, sound waves, radio waves, telephone cables, the nervous system, and the like

Receiver The destination of information Audience: the collective word for receivers in mass communication process Feedback: the transmission of the reaction of the receiver back to the sender Effect: changes on action and attitude of the receiver

Why is it difficult to define communication? Communication is as many-sided and complex as life itself. Therefore, the complexity of communication defies a simple definition. Every definition—by definition—necessarily leaves out and excludes some other aspect of our social communication network by drawing the boundary of communication in one way or another.

Also, new socio-cultural and technological developments are—necessarily—not included in older definitions. Definitions, necessarily, give a limited perspective. limit = boundary

Harold Lasswell’s famous 5W formula of 1948 asks a number of simple questions that may be applied to any communication act:

Elements (Factors) of Communication a message an initiator (sender) (source, transmitter, encoder, addresser, author) a medium (or media) a mode/vehicle (channel) a recipient (receiver) (decoder, addressee, reader) an effect

Process of Communication Sender decides message Sender encodes message (encoding) Receiver decodes message (decoding) Receiver returns a signal to let the sender know whether the message has or has not been understood. (feedback)