COMMUNICATION THEORY a system of ideas explaining how information is conveyed and received
In learning semiotics, the study of signs, I was shown the surface of design. The visual and verbal language broken down into an icon, index, or symbol. So I was able to understand how they come to be understood through connotation and denotation and how that forms meaning, the concept of semantics. Semantics then leads to pragmatics, the relationship of signs to its viewer and the context in which they exist. These theories can be practiced through the form of rhetoric, which is the effective and persuasive use of semiotics. This gives depth to that surface by taking the literal and authoring it so that the relationship can be used logically, ethically, and/or emotionally.
All of these ideas have connected into an abstract system within visual communication. The surface I’ve originally come to understand is embedded within the frameworks of an active and ever changing reality. As a communicator in the visual world, I form messages within that surface. The surface being a channel in which visual/verbal language is understood. The channel is dimensional in that the world around it, contextual factors and noise, can affect it’s success. We learn whether or not it’s effective through the feedback we get from other communicators, forming a cyclical process.
SHANNON WEAVER In 1949, Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver created
BERLO In 1960, David Berlo adapted the Shannon-Weaver model for broadcast television. This model now concerned the social and cultural context in which the receiver lives.
EMMERT DONAGHY In 1981, Emmert Donaghy improved the communication model by prioritizing the context and feedback of an audience.
COMMUNICATORS The source of information. e.g. friends, family, coworkers.
MESSAGE
Verbal, written, or recorded information for a recipient. e.g. structure, image, text.
CHANNEL The form or passage in which communication takes place. e.g. text message, social networking, print media.
NOISE | technical, semantic, effective The disturbance in the understanding of a message. e.g. craft, language, rhetoric.
FEEDBACK Information received after a message has been delivered and a response to the effectiveness of a message.
CONTEXTUAL FACTORS | perception, motivation, reasoning Components within the environment that can affect a message. e.g. age, sex, location, culture, knowledge.
geospo de c e shaping singular and multiple communication
CHANNELS
CHANNELS
person to group
group to group
e.g. social networking sites
e.g. news broadcasts
person to person
group to person
e.g. text message
e.g. mass email
COMMUNICATORS
MESSAGE
DIRECTION
ENCODE/DECODE
e.g. family, friends, co-workers
e.g. structure, image, text
a cyclical process
coding to visual/verbal language or vice versa
CONTEXTUAL FACTORS | perception, motivation, reasoning
FEEDBACK
e.g. age, sex, location, culture, knowledge
e.g. body language, ratings, sales figures
NOISE | technical, semantic, effective e.g. craft, language, rhetoric