Sunday, February 13, 2011

What is Communication?

What is communication? According to Hardt, communication is the process of “making common,” and has been applied to a variety of practices.1 These practices include using different media to transmit messages. Contrary to what the Shannon-Weaver model presents, in this day in age there can be more than one transmitter. Who was once the receiver can now be the transmitter also, the distinction between author and public is losing its basic character.2


What is the cause of this? The ever-expanding World Wide Web allows people from all over the world to interact with each other without moving an inch at an ever-increasing speed. A prime example of this comes from Twitter. When the original receiver receives a message (tweet) he/she considers worth sharing, they retweet (transmit) it. Here the receiver becomes transmitter, and this pattern may continue perpetually.


Before the use of the Internet became widespread, distance affected the flow of communication, that isn’t the case anymore. The efficiency of the medium does, however affect the flow of communication e.g. the time it takes to transmit a message. The strength of a relationship/friendship determines how frequently one sends out a message. In terms of mass communication, the message is transmitted in relation to how urgent the message is i.e. medical breakthrough, a terrorist attack. In the Internet age, the popularity of the subject, and who can post information the quickest influences communication. However, one must note that posting the quickest doesn’t necessarily deem the information as accurate.


1 Hardt, Hanno. Myths for the Masses: an Essay on Mass Communication. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2004. Print. Pg 7

2 Benjamin, Walter Illuminations New York: Schocken Books, 1955. Print. Pg 232

No comments:

Post a Comment