Second Communication Theory lecture

1. What is all this communications
stuff?
David Phillips
FCIPR, FSNCR

2. What We Will Do Today
• Look back to see what how much we know about
communicating
• Learn about different models for communication
• Look at the evolving communications landscape

3. Interacting
• Communication through books - Did you delight in pp
144-146 of Exploring Public Relations 2006 (Tench &
Yeomans) and pp 20- 31 The Public Relations
Handbook 2001 ( Theaker et al)?
• Communication using experiences one to many - This
slide show is available at Slideshare.net (
http://www.slideshare.net/dphillips4363)
• Adding a bit of a symmetrical interaction, noise and
feedback - You can have cell phones on, blog, Twitter,
and ask questions.
• One to one is not all bad with a bit of symmetrical
influence - You can email me david.g.h.phillips (at)
geemaildotcom or chat on Google Talk/Live Messenger.

4. History of Models
• Animals communicate – Humans communicate –
what is the difference?
• If humans communicate why don’t we understand
much about it?
• After 60,000 years of human evolution, Aristotle
2300 years ago thought of three models
– Ethos – The nature and qualities of the communicator
– Logos – The nature, structure and content of the
message (s)
– Pathos – The nature, feelings and thoughts of the
audience.

5. Laswell’s theory
• Who says – what – to whom – with what – effect.
• Great for propagandists – all control – and limited
in effect (McQuail & Windahl) – audiences have
feelings to (and can turn a deaf ear)
• Shannon and Weaver explained how by adding
Noise ( now extended to physical, cultural,
intellectual, emotional) and Feedback (the receiver
has a role too) we can see its not that simple.
• The bank of England dropped interest rate 1.5% -
did the message get through for student loans?

6. Osgood and Schramm

7. All too linear
• Assumption that communication is linear
• From someone to someone
• Who could possibly be interested?
• What was the effect
• Should communication ‘do something’?
• A cognitive implication?

8. Westley & McLean

9. Context, society, experience and
culture
• Communication uses ‘signs’ (Peirce, Saussure)
• Pictures, words, movements etc.
• They have meanings
• My picture is not the same as your picture. My word
means what it means to me not what it means to you
(Fiske).
– Denotative - dictionary definition, explication of a picture
etc)
– Connotative - experience of the sign – nice/nasty, fun/dull)
– Ambiguous - signs with many meanings – fit (healthy)/fit
(worth a snog)/fit (shoes that don’t)/ fit (a health problem)
– Polysemic can be interpreted differently. Often leads to
misunderstanding – ‘I was bombed in London’

10. The inquisitive human
• McQuail/Blumer & Katz
– Seeks diversion (from boring lectures)
– Looks for personal relationships (the social animal)
– Personal identity (the ‘badges’ that say ‘I’m me’ in the group
or crowd
– Surveillance (where am I, opportunities, threats, what’s
cool)
• McGuire
– Search for knowledge
– Search for emotional reward
– Active or passive engagement
– Ambition to get educated (internalised)/ need to get a
degree (external badge)
– Seeks gratification

11. Maletzke
C= Communicator, M = Message, R = Reciever

12. Mass media
• Does it work? It depends (friends & neighbours)
• Opinion Formers and agenda setters
• Two step flow (with ‘journalist’ in the middle)
• Agenda setters

13. Social Media
• Network effect
• One-2-one
• One-2-many
• Many-2-one
• Many-2-many
• Niche not mass communication
• The transition of mass media (http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk)

14. Lets try out the theory
• Facebook for the corporation
• Twitter for the newspaper
• YouTube for the University
• Computer Games for the teacher
• Mobile for the fashion industry
• Network or broadcast?
• Mass media or niche media?

15. What We Will Do Today
• Look back to see what how much we know about
communicating
• Learn about different models for communication
• Look at the evolving communications landscape

16. What is all this communications
stuff?
David Phillips
FCIPR, FSNCR