COMM101 INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION Instructor s Assist. Prof. Dr. Nurten Kara (Group1) & Assist. Prof. Dr. Melek

1. COMM101INTRODUCTION TOCOMMUNICATIONInstructor sAssist. Prof. Dr. Nurten Kara (Group1)&Assist. Prof. Dr. Melek Atabey (Group2)

2. 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)

3. The Definition of Communication 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.''

4. The Definition of Communication • Communication (n) 1. an act or an instance of communicating 2. a verbal or written message 3. a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs or behaviour . (Longman Dictionary)

5. The Definition of Communication • Communicate (vt) 1. to convey knowledge of or information about; make known 2. to cause to pass from one another (vi) 3. to transmit information thought, or feeling so that it is satisfactorily received or understood.

6. The Definition of Communication • Communications: 4. 'a system (e.g. telephones) for communicating 5.techniques for the effective transmission of information, ideas etc.

7. The Definition of Communication • Communication does not take place only between human beings because as living organisms animals too communicate with each other. And this is calledanimal communication.Here we will be concerned with human communication.

8. 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.

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

10. Why is it difficult to define communication? 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. • Communication is as many-sided and complex as life itself. • Therefore, the complexity of communication defies a simple definition.

11. Why is it difficult to define communication? • In dealing with communication, we are confronted with a seemingly overwhelming amount of data, together with a number of competing academic perspectives. • Clearly, some choices have to be made in order to come up with a definition. • At the same time, however, the process of selection will always reveal the particular standpoint/viewpoint of the individual theorist making the definition.

12. 1 Communication • Simplifying definitions: Models • A model of a communication process is “a consciously simplified description in graphic form of a piece of reality.” • Models are meant to provide “images of wholes” which we might otherwise be unable to perceive.

13. 1 Communication • Simplifying definitions: Models • Harold Lasswell’s famous 5W formula of 1948 asks a number of simple questions that may be applied to any communication act:

14. 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, decoder, addressee, reader) • an effect

15. 1 Communication • Simplifying definitions: Models • Shannon & Weaver offer another model of communication:

16. 1 Communication • Simplifying definitions: Models • Shannon & Weaver offer another model of communication: • The concept of “noise” was offered as an explanation for the external, mechanical interruptions and other difficulties communication must face along its linear route of transmission.

17. 1 Communication • Simplifying definitions: Models • However, communication mishaps are not only caused when clear messages are distorted by external interference, as the Shannon & Weaver model suggests. • The message/signal itself, and the way in which it is expressed, already carries the seeds of misunderstanding. • The polysemic nature of language, for instance, implies that any and every understanding is at the same time, and necessarily so, a misunderstanding.

18. 1 Communication • Simplifying definitions: Models • Dennis McQuail offers a more complex “simple” model:

19. 1 Communication • Simplifying definitions: Models • McQuail later revised his model’s unilinear flow:

20. 1 Communication • Simplifying definitions: Models • Models are simplified representations of reality. • We will discuss representations in general at a later stage in class. • For now, let us reflect on the following question: If what we want to study is a complex phenomenon, and if we want to represent it as it is, are we not doing it injustice by representing it as simple rather than as complex?

21. 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)

22. Process of Communication The content of any message depends very much on: • The intention • The available language or symbolic forms • The context • The communicative possibilities or discourses

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

24. Means of Communication • Forms of communication (Visual images, pictures, the spoken word, the written word, body language, gestures are different forms of communication) • Media of communication (telephone, face to face communication, television, radio, magazines, newspapers, books, letters)

25. J. Fiske’s Categories of Media • The presentational media (the voice, the face, the body) • The representational media(books, paintings, photographs, writing, architecture, interior designing, gardening etc. ) • The mechanical media(telephones, radio, television, telexes)

26. 1 Communication • Why is it difficult to define communication? Why are there so many different definitions? • 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

27. 1 Communication • Why is it difficult to define communication? Why are there so many different definitions? • Definitions in social sciences and humanities—as in all other sciences—reflect particular perspectives or points of view. • Concepts in their respective disciplines can only be defined within the frame of different and differing approaches. • And in the field of communication studies there are many approaches drawn from many disciplines with different definitions of communication.

28. 1 Communication • Some different approaches to communication • Communication as an art. • Communication as a linear process.(Theories of transmission of meaning/content). • Communication as an exchange(of meaning/content). • Communication as a collective/commonwealth generation of meaning/content.

29. Differing definitions of the field of study Inter-disciplinary(interaction with outside disciplines; individual disciplines are left intact). However, note that the space of “inter” is already a different space than the spaces of the distinct disciplines that are brought together. Multi-disciplinary(more than one discipline in the field, interaction that may or may not bring about mutual transformation). TransdisciplinaryPorous borders; disciplines are re-shaped again and again.

30. Varied forms and means of communication • Language • Discursive / Textual (Speech / Writing) • Print (Mechanical mass reproduction) (“Gutenberg galaxy”) • Digital (Irrelevant distinction between copy and original) • Again, differing focuses give rise to differing definitions.

31. Communication Studies as a field of study:What is its aim, its reason for being?Why do we study in this field? • Teaching/learning the art of communication. • Teaching/learning the making and understanding of meaning  meaningful & significant • Teaching and learning not only the practical skills but the frame of mind, or the intellectual skills, to enable you to put these practical skills to good use: Ethical and political responsibility

32. 1 Communication • Communication Studies as a field of study:What is its aim, its reason for being?Why do we study in this field? • Practical/pragmatic reasons: to become effective communicators as social beings, and as prospective media professionals. • Ethical reasons: to be able to reflect on what we are doing as social communicators and as media professionals; to be able to evaluate and distinguish good from bad. • To learn how to be self-reflexive and to consider the wider consequences of our actions. • The addition of “Studies” to “Communication” in the Faculty’s name allows us to look back and reflect on what we learn and do as “communication.”

33. The etymology of the word communication as a genealogical tool for understanding its meaning • Common • Community • Communion • Communal • Communism • Excommunication • Municipality • Immunity

34. 1 Communication • The etymology of the word communication as a genealogical tool for understanding its meaning • All these words derive from both the Latin communicare that means to make common, to share and • from muntare or munia that means mutual help, exchange, and interaction among those who belong to the same community.

35. 1 Communication • The etymology of the word communication as a genealogical tool for understanding its meaning • “To communicate,” the verbal form of communication means “to participate in collective life, to perform service for a common purpose” from which one can only be exempt under special circumstances (immunis, immunity). • And if to communicate means to participate in collective life, to be purged or excluded/expelled from the community is described by the verb to be excommunicated. • Hence, commonality has persisted as the semantic core of the concept of communication.

36. 1 Communication • Informed by these insights, we will look at communication not simply as the transmission of a message/content by an individual to another individual, but rather, as a commonwealth creation of message/meaning/content. • We will also consider misunderstanding and miscommunication as inherent and not external to the process of communication. • Because of the ultimate undecidability of the truth of communication, ethical responsibility becomes all the more important. • Ethical considerations cannot be eliminated by technical determinations of clarity or truth by only a limited party partaking in a commonwealth determination of what the communication is all about.

37. Fundamental qualities of communication (Mortensen) • dynamic (It is not static. It is a continuous activity or change) • irreversible (incapable of being reversed) • proactive (not reactive) • interactive (there is an interaction between the sides who join in, there is an exchange of information) • contextual (It depends on the context in which the communication occurs)

38. Communication • the exchange of meaning between human agents''. The exchange of meaning between people has to take place within a shared context. (Price)

39. Aspects of Communication • the physical and temporal situation. • the basic faculties all humans have. • the discursive environment • the overall social and structural context.

40. Communication • an interaction which consists of the actionand reaction between two or more individuals, or two or more social groups.

41. Functions of Communication • instrumental (to achieve or obtain something) • control (to get s.one to behave in a particular way) • information (to find out or explain s.thing) • expression to express one's feelings) • social contact (participating in company) • alleviation of anxiety (to sort out a problem, ease a worry about s.thing) • stimulation (response to something of interest) • role-related (because the situation requires it)

42. Communication • the elements (factors) of communication (its components parts) • the process of communication (its discourse of action, how it operates) • the features of communication (its characteristics)

43. Types (Categories) of Communication Human communication is divided into two main groups: • verbal communication • non-verbal communication

44. Types (Categories) of Communication Communication can also be separated into different types or categories: • Intrapersonal Communication • Interpersonal Communication • Group Communication • Extrapersonal Communication • Mass Communication

45. Intrapersonal Communication • It takes place within ourselves. It is our reflections on ourselves, on our relationships with others and with our environment. Our inner monologs, impressions, memories interact with external or internal stimuli.

46. Interpersonal Communication • This refers to communication between people, which is usually face to face, and usually between two individuals. • It does not simply consist of written and spoken communication, but also of non-verbal interaction.

47. Group Communication • It refers to communication within clearly identifiable groups, or between different groups of people. • These groups can be formal committees (tribunals, commissions) or informal (peer groups, discussion groups, leisure groups)

48. Extrapersonal Communication • This type of communication is generally described as that which takes place either without human involvement (communication between machines) or, more loosely, interaction between human beings and machines.

49. Mass Communication • This category is often used to describe the type of communications initiated by the large institutions of the mass media.

50. Mass Communication: imitating the personal mode • Mass communicators use models of interpersonal communication to make their message effective • The mass media are not just one branch of human communication; they are built upon and continue to imitate human interaction. • All mass media forms depend on the use of symbolic content (language, images, gestures, intonation and so on.)