Theorizing Communication

"Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language".

– Walt Disney

Communication theories

What’s communication? That might seem quite a tricky question to start a class with. But actually the answer turns out to be intuitive and simple: communication is the practice of exchanging information and meaning across space and time using various means. Communication is not exclusive to humans, although what defines human communication is the ability to use verbal expression.

Through history, there have been different models that tried to explain the communication process. The first one was made by Shannon and Weaver in 1948 and applied mathematical tools to explain telephonic communication.

Shannon-Weaver’s model of communication. Source: communicationtheory.org

Since then several different models have been designed, each one incorporating new elements or approaches. The most important additions were made by Lasswell (1948) and Jakobson (1963). On the one hand, Lasswell paid attention to the effect of the communication: in any communication act, there are some consequences that can be expected, but there might also be some unexpected effects. On the other hand, Jakobson included the context in his model: the interpretation of a discourse will depend on the time, place and culture where the communication takes place.

Lasswell’s model of communication. Source: comindwork.com

Jakobson’s model of communication. Source: communicationtheory.org

Therefore, communication theories nowadays study several aspects (the subjects of communication, its functions and purposes, the different channels, languages and codes used and the expected and unexpected consequences) in an attempt to conceptualise the relationship between the media and audiences and to understand the nature and extent of media influence.

Studies on Communication are often wrongly considered less relevant than other social sciences, probably because Communication Sciences were born more recently. But it’s easy to see how communication and media are an important part of anyone’s everyday life. Media influences and shapes society and vice versa, and thus understanding that relationship is an important mean to understand society.

Communication theories are strongly influenced by intellectual models, and the approach will vary from a theory to another: media-centric or society-centric, culturalist or materialist. To summarize, the different communication theories can be classified in 3 main traditions:

• Structural approach: studies media systems and organizations and their relationships to society. It’s society-centric.
• Behavioural approach: pays attention to how humans choose, process and respond to communication messages. It’s media-centric.
• Cultural approach: analyses the meanings of particular contents. It’s also media-centric.

Evolution of communication

In the history of communication, there have been several advances and inventions that have changed and improved our ability to communicate:

• Pre-verbal era
• Speech (100.000 BCE)
• Symbols (30.000 BCE)
• Pictograms (5.000 BCE)
• Writing (3.200 BCE)
• Print – movable type (c. 1440 CE)
• Photography (1827)
• Telephone (1876)
• Radio (1894)
• Television (invented in 1930s / commercialized in 1950s)
• Internet (1994)

This evolution has changed completely the way humans live and interact with each other. For example, while advertising has existed since the birth of commerce itself, the invention of the radio (and later, of the TV) was a huge revolution in that field: advertisements were henceforth able to reach a broad audience and the concept of marketing was created. On the other hand, Gutember’s print can’t be considered exactly a mass media because at that time the biggest part of the population was illiterate, but it definitely had the potential to become one. And indeed, books became more accessible thanks to printing, which inevitably made learning to read a little bit easier.

  

Sources: washingtonpost.com, mymerhaba.com and commons.wikimedia.org, respectively

During the lesson, we discussed and voted which were the most important milestones in communication, besides the speech, and the results were:

1. Writing: for allowing people to communicate without being tied to a certain space and time, and for the opportunity to preserve discourses.
2. Internet: for being a multimedia medium; and for allowing easy, rapid and cheap access to information and communication from all around the world.
3. Print (movable type): for enabling serial printing, without having to manually copy the text and images over and over again.
4. Photography: for the chance to actually show a part of reality and not just talk about it; and for being the precursor of cinema.
5. Radio & Telephone. Radio: for being the first mass medium. And telephone: for being the first medium to allow instant communication between people in different locations.

Mass communication?

The concept of mass media was first introduced at the beginning of the 20^th century, but nowadays we simply talk about media. There are many reasons behind that preference. On the one hand, the word “mass” suggests a shapeless tangle of rootless, faceless individuals and implies a separation from a condescending elite. On the other hand, it’s a concept born in an industrial context, tied to a serial production model that no longer can be applied to media and society.

The term “mass” is viewed currently as scientifically vague, no one can identify what the mass really is or what can be said about it. But what’s more important, the offer is so fragmented nowadays that media can’t attract a massive part of the audience. A show might have a very broad audience and very good ratings, but we certainly can’t speak about a mass anymore.