Detailed Notes on Communication and Media wk 2

• Importance of Senses:

  • Key senses for communication include smell, taste, touch, vision, and hearing.

  • Touch is more prominent in specific contexts (e.g., physician-patient interactions).

  • Vision and oral communication (e.g., music and natural sounds) are critical for everyday life and driving.

Medium is the Message Theory

• Marshall McLuhan:

  • A prominent figure in communication studies, known for his theory that the medium of communication shapes the message itself.

  • Medium can influence the way information is perceived and understood.

• Types of Media:

  • McLuhan categorized media as 'hot' and 'cold':

  • Hot Media: High-definition, providing a lot of information, requiring less audience participation (e.g., radio, film).

  • Cold Media: Lower definition, requiring audience involvement, requiring higher audience participation(e.g., television, comic books).

Importance of Public Communication

• Public Communication Defined:

  • A sender-focused communication type designed for large audiences.

  • Becomes mass communication when technology facilitates transmission to many people simultaneously.

• Examples:

  • Print media (newspapers) and electronic media (television, YouTube live streaming).

  • Real-time sports broadcasting as a form of mass communication.

Applications of Medium in Various Fields

• Physics:

  • Medium refers to substances that propagate waves or energy, acting as carriers for sound, light, or heat.

  • Examples of media:

  • Air as medium for sound waves.

  • Water as medium for ocean waves.

  • Air as medium for transmitting heat.

• Fine Arenviroment: broader ecosystem of relationships chnages and dependicies

  • like music, art, literature, etc.

  • Physical materials such as wood, clay, and canvas serve as the conduits for artistic communication.

  • Intersection of physical mediums and their use in artistic expressions showcased in diverse forms.

Upcoming Class Details

• Guest Speaker Session:

  • Moderator: Erica Samson, Director of Student Services.

  • Format: 30 minutes of Q&A, with each guest receiving around 5-10 minutes of questioning.

  • Additional half-hour for participant questions.

  • Participation will include polls to solicit questions from students.

• Preparation Note:

  • Review the guest profiles and bios linked in Canvas announcements before the session.

Introduction to Communication and Media

• Communication involves transformation of information and building relationship enviroment: broader ecosystem of relationships changes and dependicies

• one or multiple mediums.

  • Mass media carries information to audiences.

• Evolution of communication includes various tools and technologies.

Examples of Media in Communication

• Libraries, like those at the University of Washington, include collections that showcase various media forms (e.g., DVDs, VHS, streaming).

• Material aspect of media has historical significance, as seen in different forms such as painting and printing.

Mass Media and Printing Technology

• Mass media extends visual and audio forms to reach broad audiences.

• The evolution from traditional printing to modern digital formats highlights material manifestation in media studies.

• Example of early printing: templates and mass reproduction via printing technology.

Different Types of Media

• Digital Media: Involves binary coding and computational technology.

  • Examples: smartphones, computers, smart TVs.

• Social Media: Interactive platforms that allow user engagement through tactile interfaces like keyboards and joysticks.

• Synthetic Media: Content created by AI without direct human involvement (e.g., deepfakes, AI-generated avatars).

Convergence of Media Types

• Old and new media enviroment: broader ecosystem of relationships changes and dependiciesnt is delivered and perceived.

• Carrier Media vs. Conduit Media:

  • Carrier media holds messages (e.g., DVDs, letters).

  • Conduit media transmits messages in real-time, facilitating direct communication.

Historical Context of Media Evolution

• The transition from vaudeville and theater to cinema shows the evolution of performance arts into mass entertainment.

• The Lumière brothers: Early filmmakers, known for “Arrival of a Train.”

  • Example of early audience reactions and fear of realism in cinema.

Importance of Technological Development in Communication

• Each media technology has significantly shaped social structures and interpersonal dynamics.

• The Medium is the Message: A concept by Marshall McLuhan emphasizing the impact of the medium itself over the message being delivered.

• Theory suggests that the form of communication influences societal behaviors, perceptions, and interactions.

Key Premises of McLuhan's Theory

1. The form of media affects the content delivered.

2. Dominant media culturally bias society, forming new associations and behaviors.

3. Our sensory experiences shape how we think and interact with the world around us.

Tactile Bias and Media Influence

• Different societies arise based on biases toward auditory (oral cultures) or visual (print cultures) communication.

• The introduction of television and the internet further altered human interaction and information access.

Service Environment and Audience Experience

• The service environment of media technologies shapes user experiences, including physical settings (living rooms, movie theaters) and social contexts.

  • Example: The dynamics of television viewing versus attending a live event or cinema.

Conclusion

• Media deeply affects how messages are perceived and interpreted. Understanding media's evolving role helps analyze modern cultural communication landscapes.

• Future discussions could include media affordance and its impact on message-making.

Quiz section:

• Scarification: Nonverbal communication through physical markings: In some cultures, scarification is used to communicate identity, social status, tribal affiliation, or rites of passage. The scars tell a story without words.

• Metaphorical communication: Scarification can also represent the idea of emotional scars — people may communicate past trauma, pain, or life experience through how they behave, express themselves, or even through art or writing. For example, someone might say, “His poetry is a form of scarification,” meaning it communicates deep emotional wounds.

• Echolocation (reaction) : Testing for feedback: A speaker might “send out” an idea, joke, or opinion to a group and then “listen” for how it lands — the feedback helps them navigate social situations. Like saying something in a meeting and watching facial expressions to see if people agree.

• Searching for connection: People sometimes share thoughts or feelings in hopes of getting a signal back — like emotional echolocation. “I said I was feeling off, just to see if she noticed or cared.”

takes away one sense; transition into other senses touch, smell, ect.

oral culture (primary orality) : aural bias

phonetic culture : visual bias

gutenberg culture : visual bias

electronic culture: tactile bias

affordances- approach highlights communication charcateristics that invite

carrying capacity: message load that a system can handle

message durability: how quickly a message degrates

message distribution speed: how quickly you can get your message to your destination

source control over message: the ability of a sender to manage, modify, and direct the flow of information before it reaches the recipient, ensuring that the intended message is delivered accurately and efficiently.

• feedback mechanism: the process through which the recipient responds to the message, enabling the sender to gauge understanding and make adjustments as necessary.

• medium selection: the choice of communication platform that can impact both the message durability and distribution speed, influencing how effectively the message is received and understood.

message assescability how fast you can acess a message

message avaibility: how much of the message you see at once

messsage modalties: how a message is given

control over presentation:

service enviroment: broader ecosystem of relationships chnages and dependicies

Dramatism- Kenneth Burke

One of Burke’s most famous ideas. He believed that all communication is like drama — people act with motives, and we can understand communication better by looking at it through that lens.

He introduced the Dramatistic Pentad, which helps analyze human motives in communication

"Terministic Screens"

Burke said that language shapes how we see reality — it doesn’t just reflect it.
We all use different "screens" (or filters) based on the terms and language we use.

Example:

• Calling someone a "freedom fighter" vs. a "terrorist" — both describe the same act, but the terms frame the meaning differently.

He believed that language is symbolic action — when we speak or write, we're not just describing the world, we're acting in it.
Communication is a way of doing things, not just saying things.

He helps us understand how people use language to influence, connect, and define reality.

Julia Woods

known for communication in gender, how communication reflects and shapes our understanding of gender

She’s known for emphasizing that communication is central to forming, maintaining, and ending relationships.

Julia Wood sees communication as dynamic, symbolic, and meaning-making — not just talking, but how we connect, relate, and understand each other in the world.

Harold Innis

is a prominent figure in media theory, recognized for his concepts of time-biased and space-biased media, which explore how different communication technologies influence societal structures and relationships.

Innis argued that the dominant forms of media in a society affect how that society organizes itself, how it holds power, and even how long it lasts.

To explain this, he developed the idea of:

🧭 Time-biased vs. Space-biased Media

🕰 Time-Biased Media

• Durable, long-lasting media

• Stands the test of time

• Often heavy or not easily moved

🔸 Examples:

• Stone tablets

• Parchments

• Oral traditions

🧠 What they do:

• Encourage tradition, religion, continuity, and a strong sense of community

• Are often used in societies that value history and ritual

• Help preserve knowledge over generations

Provide a platform for storytelling and cultural expression, ensuring that the narratives of various groups are shared and celebrated.

Space-Biased Media

• Light, portable, easily spread over large distances

• More temporary or perishable

🔸 Examples:

• Paper, newspapers, social media, radio, TV

🧠 What they do:

• Promote expansion, control over distance, and empire-building

• Make it easier to spread information quickly over large geographic areas

• Focus more on the present than the past

• If a society relies too heavily on space-biased media, it may expand fast, but collapse quickly because it lacks cultural continuity.

• If it relies too heavily on time-biased media, it may become rigid or resistant to change.

🎯 Real-World Example:

Think of ancient Egypt:

• Used stone monuments (time-biased)

• Helped preserve religious tradition and stability for thousands of years

Now think of modern digital culture:

• Tweets, texts, emails (space-biased)

• Information spreads fast, but it’s often short-lived or easily forgotten

🧠 Why This Matters Today:

Innis’s ideas help us:

• Understand the effects of different media on society

• Analyze how media impacts power, memory, and culture

• Think critically about how our digital, space-biased world might affect our attention, history, and relationships

James Carey

His most well-known idea is the Ritual Model of Communication, which offers a completely different way of thinking about what communication is for — not just about sending info, but about sharing culture, connection, and meaning.

🙌 Ritual Model (Carey’s Cultural View)

This is where Carey flips the script:

🔹 Goal: Not to send info, but to bring people together
🔹 Example: Watching the news not just to learn facts, but to feel part of a community
🔹 It's about participation, expression, connection, and reinforcing values

🧠 It’s based on the idea of maintaining society through shared symbolic activity over time — more about time than space.

📺 Example: Watching the News

• Transmission Model: You watch the news to learn what happened today.

• Ritual Model: You watch the news every evening as a ritual — to feel informed, involved, connected, and part of society. It reinforces what your community sees as important.

Why the Ritual Model Matters:

• It reminds us that communication is not just functional or informational — it's deeply social and symbolic

• It helps explain why we do things like watch the Super Bowl, go to church, scroll social media, or attend graduation — they’re not just about content, they’re shared rituals

• It shows how media creates a sense of belonging and shapes cultural norms

Carey’s Definition of Communication (from his essay):

That means communication helps create and maintain what we understand as real — it's how culture lives and evolves.

The sensory bias of a medium affects:

• How deeply we process information

• Whether the communication feels emotional, logical, or sensory

• How we connect with others (for example, hearing someone's voice vs. reading a text)

🧩 A Real-Life Example:

Reading a book engages your eyes and slows you down, promoting deep focus and interpretation — this is a visual bias.

Watching TikTok videos gives you rapid visuals + sound — a visual and auditory bias — which leads to fast, emotional, often surface-level engagement.

🎯 Summary:

It's a powerful idea that helps explain why different forms of media feel so different — even when delivering the same message.

Clever Hans phenomenon and its implications for human communication

• People often pick up on body language, tone of voice, eye movements, and other subtle cues, sometimes without realizing it.

• In communication, especially in hierarchical settings (like teacher-student, boss-employee), this can lead to biases or altered behavior based on unspoken signals.

Clever han was a horse who picked up on subtle cues from his trainer, demonstrating how non-verbal communication can significantly influence interactions. This phenomenon serves as a reminder of the powerful impact that non-verbal signals can have on our understanding and interpretation of messages.

The National Communication Association (NCA) defines communication as:

This definition emphasizes that communication is not just about talking or transmitting data, but about creating shared understanding, influenced by context, culture, and medium. It's especially relevant today with the variety of ways we connect — in person, online, asynchronously, or across cultures and languages