COMMUNICATIONS: AN OVERVIEW

WHAT IS COMMUNICATION?

 “The imparting or exchanging of information or news”

 “Means of connection between people or places, in particular” We are built to
communicate, this is innate to every human being.
 “Two way process of reaching mutual understanding, in which participants not only
exchange (encode – decode) information, news, ideas and feelings but also create and share
meaning. In general, communication is a means of connecting people or places.”

It talks about the exchange, but goes beyond it. When we talk about information it implies to a
certain form of data. When people communicate, people share meaning. It is the exchange of
meanings, not of words. One may find connection with places, people, etc

Communication has a number of sub-specialized fields:

o Human communication - an exchange of communication between people

o Organisational communication - when people come together, they operate differently
rather than as single individuals
o Mass communication - Radio, tv. There is once source being disseminated all over the place
o Political communication - when there is an election, politics try to convey messages through
communication
o Health communication - dealing with spreading information and how to deal with health
issues. Ex. The famous campaign done in Africa on how to get rid of malaria.
o Development communication – related to how countries develop

AREAS OF COMMUNICATION

 Interpersonal: communication between people

o Face-to-face
o Private settings

 Group: interaction in groups

o Small groups
o Decision making

 Public: public presentation of discourse

o Rhetoric > for example people who are employed as ghost writers. People create
speeches for other more important and prominent people. These people need to
know the basis of rhetoric.
  Organisational: large networks (also virtual)
o Structure and function of organisations
o Human relations
o Communication and process of organising
o Organisational culture

 Mass communication - is usually mediated and goes one way. There can be immediate
feedback with social media while with mass media this cannot be done. Mass media
attempts to reach large groups of audiences.

 Social media communication

EVERY FIELD OF KNOWLEDGE BRINGS ABOUT ITS OWN SET OF QUESTIONS.

WHAT KIND OF QUESTIONS?

 Is the message accurate?

 Why do some people understand a message while others do not?
 How do organisations communicate?
 Why do consumers take tot certain programmes and not others?
 What are the characteristics of effective political communications?
 What motivates consumers to spend so much time on video games?
 What makes news?
 How does culture impact visual communication?
 Do celebrities dispose consumers favourably toward the brand?

ELEMENTS OF THEORY

 Philosophical assumptions: basic beliefs that underlie the theory

 Concepts: building blocks - Ex. The concept of satisfaction – a very important measure.
o Things grouped into conceptual categories
 Explanations: dynamic connections – Ex. If people are in a crowded place they are more
likely to create fights.
o Identify regularities and patterns
 Principles: guidelines for action
o Guidelines enabling you to interpret an event and make judgements
DIFFERENT TRADITIONS

1. Semiotic tradition
2. Phenomenological tradition
3. Cybernetic tradition
4. Socio-psychological tradition
5. Socio-cultural tradition
6. Critical tradition
7. Rhetorical tradition

 SEMIOTIC TRADITION
1. Person
2. Object
3. Sign

o Meaning arises from a relationship among object (referent), person (interpreter) and sign.
o Communication: connecting the private worlds of individuals
o Addresses gaps and misunderstandings that can be bridged by common language
o Concentrates on the conscious experience of persons : people actively interpret their
experience and come to understand the world by personal experience with it

 PHENOMENOLOGICAL TRADITION

o Based on the appearance of an object, vent or condition in our perception

o Concentrates on the conscious experience of persons: people actively interpret their
experience and come to understand the world by personal experience with it
o It is what people perceive. Instances were certain objects mean different things to different
people. We have come to understand that ultimately it is about people’s perspective. For
example you may have a flag, but haw the people perceive and relate to that flag is personal
to them.

 CYBERNETIC TRADITION

o Systems: set of interacting components that form something more than the sum of parts
o Interdependence of components, self- regulation and control through feedback
o Dynamic adaptation to environment
o Acquire inputs form and provide outputs to environment

inputs process
FEEDBACK
outputs
Communication is a way by which we take inputs, translate them and provide results. Ex. Microsoft,
rather than trying to sell you software, they tell you to subscribe to software – adapting to the
market and thinking for the future. Ex. Facebook got a lot of feedback on privacy and so they had to
revise this policy. 20 years ago, adaptation would have taken a longer pace. Nowadays it happens
almost every month. Those who do not adapt will become extinct. Ex. Typewriters

 SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL TRADITION

The one used mostly in our research. For example, some say that when violence is portrayed, people
will act out more, while others say that when the media shows acts of violence, it will help the
audience control their violence and take a healthier approach to violence.

o Individual as a social being

o Focuses on individual social behaviours, psychological variables, individual effects,
personalities and traits, perception and cognition
o How can individual communications behaviour be predicted? How does individual take into
account different contexts?

 SOCIO-CULTURAL TRADITION

o Defining oneself as a member of a group

o Understandings, meanings, norms, roles and rules are worked interactively in
communication – reality is constructed through a process of interaction in groups,
communities and cultures
o Focus on patterns of interaction rather than individual characteristics or mental models

Our culture has a much deeper impact on us than it had before. For example.
Maltese have a certain behaviour, we are very noisy. Ex. Japanese eat facing the
wall and are quieter in comparison. Every culture has its norms.

The ability to communicate in any given culture is being able to read the culture,
understand it and work with it.

 CRITICAL TRADITION

o Privilege, oppression and power (often taken-for granted) are products of certain forms of
communication through society
o What symbols, rules and meanings have emerged from communication within our society
that give power to some groups and take it away from others?
o How do these power arrangements get reinforced through communication?
o Influenced by work in Europe, US feminism, postmodern and post-colonial discourse

This attempts to question a lot the current status of things. Why is it done in such a matter? Locally,
we have a problem with illegal migration. In the newspapers you find a number of people
questioning the law courts. For example, when a foreigner is sent to court, is he being processed
differently than Maltese? Is the system fair? Are we treating everybody equally?

Many of the feminist studies are also coming from this tradition. Feminist groups, gender study
groups, LGBT groups, etc.

We are asked to question the norms that we have. There is a lot of analysis, in terms of power.
Power to some, and less to others. One group that is slowly emerging is the Post-colonial group.

 RHETORICAL TRADITION

A very old tradition which dates back to Aristotle. Some of the best ideas get lost because somebody
who is promoting them, does not know how to promote the idea.

o Concerned with the discovery of ides, their organisation, choices about how to frame those
ideas in language
o Five canons of rhetoric:
 Invention → conceptualisation
 Arrangement → organisation
 Style → presentation of symbols such as satire. Not everybody will understand the
when it is being used and some people may take you literally.
 Delivery → embodiment of symbols
 Memory → reservoirs of cultural memory, retention and processing of information. In
our day to day living, we try to understand things within the conceptual framework that
we already have. When we visit different cultures we feel confused and lost as we are
not accustomed to it.