Typically professional communicators less immediate

Typically professional communicators

Less immediate feedback (something Mass comm has in common with Public comm)
Ex: You find out if your TV show is a hit by the ratings that come AFTER the show is finished
airing
Some topics studied:
Effects of TV on behavior/attitudes
Ex: Effects of violence on TV towards children
Role of media in society
*Key point: Communication happens at multiple contextual levels!*
Conceptualizing Communication (continued) with Models
A. Modeling Communication
What is a model?
Abstract representation of a "real thing"
Includes major elements and focuses on certain characteristics
Why model communication?
To help visualize and organize info clearly (difference between giving directions and actually
giving a person a map to be able to see everything visually)
To help make predictions about behavior
To suggest new ideas for understanding comm.
A good model ideally should include:
Primary Components of comm.
Important Characteristics of comm
How everything fits together
But, most models limit their focus

Is this a good model of communication?
S > M > R
SOURCE > MESSAGE > RECEIVER
No, because it doesn't show everything. It makes it seem like it is a one way communication. Etc
etc (many more reasons.
____________________________________________________________________
Conceptualizing Communication (continued)
A. Primary Components of Communication
People (participants)
sources and receivers
Messages (symbols)
Channel / Medium (how do the messages get there? Through a channel / medium)
Noise (Radio break-up sound, No-reception phone call; AKA interference )
Can included psychological kinds of noises
Feedback
Messages are not just sent but received; we are receiving feedback to the messages we send
Context / setting
B, Important Characteristics of Communication
1. Comm as symbolic activity

symbols (verbal/non-verbal) are used to exchange meaning
Meaning is not actually in the symbol itself, but in people's understanding
FIX PARAGRAPH ADJUSTMENTS FROM HERE
Meaning is within us and how we take the message.
2. Comm as a Systematic and Cognitive Process
Encoding
Taking an idea and translating it into a symbol form
Decoding
Taking a simple message and translating it
Transmitting
Face to face interaction
3. Comm as a Transactional activity
Transaction: An exchange
Communication is a sequence of exchanges
Interactions have interdependence
Within the interaction both are dependent on each other to complete the interaction. One persons
response does not make any sense without the other person's first message (or else the first
person would be responding to nothing)
Process is irreversible
The sequence of exchanges is always moving forward (there is no rewind button where you can
take back what you say)
*Reader work*
Linear Models (pg 22)
S > M > R

-This model is missing many things. It is very limited.