Media and Information

The communication process is the steps we take in order to achieve a successful

communication. Communication is the process of conveying information between
two or more people.

This communication process is divided into three basic components:

1. A sender transmits a message through a channel to the receiver. The sender

first develops an idea, which is composed into a message and then
transmitted to the other party, who interprets the message and receives
meaning. Developing a message is known as encoding. Interpreting the
message is referred to as decoding.
2. Ideas: This is the subject matter of the communication. This may be an
opinion, attitude, feelings, views, orders, or suggestions.
3. Encoding: Since the subject matter of communication is theoretical and
intangible, its further passing requires use of certain symbols such as words,
actions or pictures etc. Conversion of subject matter into these symbols is the
process of encoding.
4. Communication channel: The person who is interested in communicating has
to choose the channel for sending the required information, ideas etc. This
information is transmitted to the receiver through certain channels which
may be either formal or informal.
5. Receiver is the person who receives the message or for whom the message is
meant for. It is the receiver who tries to understand the message in the best
possible manner in achieving the desired objectives.
6. Decoding: The person who receives the message or symbol from the
communicator tries to convert the same in such a way so that he may extract
its meaning to his complete understanding.
7. Feedback is the process of ensuring that the receiver has received the
message and understood in the same sense as sender meant it.

There are 3 kinds of sign : the ICON, the INDEX and the SYMBOL.

ICON

The icon is the simplest since it is a pattern that physically resembles what it
`stands for'.

INDEX

Defined by some sensory feature, A, (directly visible, audible, smellable, etc) that
correlates with and thus implies or `points to' B, something of interest to an
animal.
SYMBOL

Words as Symbols.

Language is Arbitrary: Language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no

inherent relation between the words of a language and their meanings or the ideas
conveyed by them.

Language is Social: Language is a set of conventional communicative signals

used by humans for communication in a community.

Language is Symbolic: Language consists of various sound symbols and their

graphological counterparts that are employed to denote some objects, occurrences
or meaning.

Language is Systematic: Although language is symbolic, yet its symbols are

arranged in a particular system.

Language is Vocal: Language is primarily made up of vocal sounds only produced

by a physiological articulatory mechanism in the human body.

Language is Non-instinctive, Conventional: No language was created in a day

out of a mutually agreed upon formula by a group of humans.

Language is Productive and Creative: Language has creativity and productivity.

The structural elements of human language can be combined to produce new
utterances, which neither the speaker nor his hearers may ever have made or heard
before any, listener, yet which both sides understand without difficulty.

Finally, language has other characteristics such as Duality referring to the two
systems of sound and meaning, Displacement which means the ability to talk across
time and space, Humanness which means that animals cannot acquire it,
Universality which refers to the equilibrium across humanity on linguistic grounds,
Competence and Performance which means that language is innate and produced is
society and furthermore, language is culturally transmitted.