What is a Model Project

WHAT IS A MODEL?

A model is an abstract representation of reality. According to Mortensen: “In the broadest sense, a model is a systematic representation of an object or event in idealized and abstract form. Models are somewhat arbitrary by their nature. The act of abstracting eliminates certain details to focus on essential factors. The key to the usefulness of a model is the degree to which it conforms--in point-by-point correspondence--to the underlying determinants of communicative behavior.”

In terms of communication a model is pictorial , i.e Communication models are merely pictures; they’re even distorting pictures, because they stop or freeze an essentially dynamic interactive or transactive process into a static picture.

Models are like metaphors. They allow us to see one thing in terms of another.

ADAVANTAGES

They allow us to ask questions. They help us to clarify doubts, points. According to Mortensen , the most important advantage of a model is that it leads us

to new discoveries. Highlights different elements in a process. It describes the role that each element plays in a process. Points out the relationship between different elements. It also tells about the communication flow. Brings up definition and approach and approach for further studies.

LIMITATIONS

Can lead to oversimplifications.. Can lead of a confusion of the model between the behavior it portrays. Premature Closure

The model designer may escape the risks of oversimplification and map reading and still fall prey to dangers inherent in abstraction. To press for closure is to strive for a sense of completion in a system.

Traditional model

1.Aristotle’s model of communication

Background

Aristotle was actually the first one to design and develop a communication model. The Aristotle model of communication is the widely accepted and the most common

model of communication where the sender sends the information or a message to the receivers to influence them and make them respond and act accordingly.

Aristotle model of communication is the golden rule to excel in public speaking, seminars, lectures where the sender makes his point clear by designing an impressive content, passing on the message to the second part and they simply respond accordingly.

Here the sender is the active member and the receiver is passive one.

The sender first prepares a content which he does by carefully putting his thoughts in words with an objective of influencing the listeners or the recipients, who would then respond in the sender’s desired way.

ARISTOTLE’S MODELS

The great greek philospher had discovered two models :

1. ARISTOTLE’S DEFINATION OF RHETORIC2. ARTISTOTLE’S MODEL OF PROOF

ARISTOTLE’S DEFINATION OF RHETORIC

a.      “Rhetoric” is “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion” (Rhetoric 1335b).

b.     Aristotle’s speaker-centered model received perhaps its fullest development in the hands of Roman educator Quintilian (ca. 35-95 A.D.), whose Institutio Oratoria was filled with advice on the full training of a “good” speaker-statesman.

Aristotle’s Model of Communication| Academic

Also knows as the earliest linear communication model, this communication model was developed based on Aristotle’s ideas expressed in On Rhetoric. This model is known linear because it is concerned with persuasion and political speech deliberation.Stone et al evaluated the Aristotle's work on rhetoric as "the most influential during the next 2300 years". This model can be claimed as the core of the other communication theories from the west since many communication scholars have developed their model having their root in the Rhetoric theory.This communication model includes five elements of the communication process:-1.      The spokesperson or the speaker2.      The speech or the message3.      The audience4.      The occasion5.      The effectIn this model, the feedback is not present because the main goal is only to persuade the audience. The spokesperson or the speaker when speaks something in powerful thoughtfulness aptitude, passes the speech to the audience. The speech that is targeted to the audience brings some alteration in the mind of the receiver (audience) which is known as the effect.

This communication involves direct interaction between the speaker and audience because both receiver and speaker are most to be in the same place in the same occasion.To a certain extent it is influencing to say that, “Western communication models and theories have their origin in Aristotle's Rhetoric” (Kumar 16). Moreover, "the western concept of communication can be traced to and consists of further elaborations of Aristotle's concept of Rhetoric, the art of persuasive speech"(Yadava “Research” 189).Human beings care about arts, imitate, create, react, review, critique all over again but his views in this is just the art of swaying or perusing without any similar ideas or the feedback. (Christopher shields Aristotle).Aristotle's conduct of Rhetoric has produced controversy. Scholars, artists, politicians have been looking forth for Aristotle’s guidance and inspiration, sometimes with too good outcome and sometimes with nonsensical consequences.Even "Asian scholars, too, by large, seem to adhere to this model despite the fact that it is Western-oriented and is in no significant sense of consonant with the cultural configurations and epistemological underpinnings that characterize Asian societies"(Dissanayake “Asian” 6)

PROCESS/FLOW CHART

Following are the simutaneous process undertaken by the SPEAKER in the communication model by Aristotle.

INVENTION (the speaker discovers rational. Emotional and ethical proofs.)

ARRANGEMENT (the speaker arranges those proofs strategically.)

STYLE (the speaker clothes the ideas in clear and compelling words.)

DELIVERY (the speaker delivers the product appropriately.)

IMPORTANT POINTS According to Aristotle following are the points to be kept in mind while playing the role of the speaker:

The speaker must be very careful about his selection of words and content in this model of communication.

He should understand his target audience and then prepare his speech. Making eye contact with the second party is again a must to create an impact among

the listeners. Let us again go through the first example. His tone and pitch should also be loud and clear enough for the people to hear and

understand the speech properly. Stammering, getting nervous in between of a conversation must be avoided. Voice modulations also play a very important role in creating the desired effect.

Blank expressions, confused looks and similar pitch all through the speech make it monotonous and nullify its effect.

The speaker should know where to lay more stress on, highlight which words to influence the listeners.

ARISTOTLE’S MODEL OF PROOF

a.      Logos, inheres in the content or the message itself

b.     Pathos, inheres in the audience

c.      Ethos, inheres in the speaker

LINEAR MODELS

2.The Shannon-Weaver Mathematical Model, 1949

Claude Shannon, an engineer for the Bell Telephone Company, designed the most influential of all early communication models.

His goal was to formulate a theory to guide the efforts of engineers in finding the most efficient way of transmitting electrical signals from one location to another (Shannon and Weaver, 1949).

Later Shannon introduced a mechanism in the receiver which corrected for differences between the transmitted and received signal; this monitoring or correcting mechanism was the forerunner of the now widely used concept of feedback (information which a communicator gains from others in response to his own verbal behavior).

This model is also known as the mother of all models as it embodies the concept of information, source, transmitter, receiver, channel, signal, nose and destination.

According to Shannon and Weaver's model (as seen above), a message begins at an information source, which is relayed through a transmitter, and then sent via a signal towards the receiver. But before it reaches the receiver, the message must go through noise (sources of interference). Finally, the receiver must convey the message to its destination.

Its primary objective , aim or concern was to find an efficient wat to send a message across.

STRENGTHS This model, or a variation on it, is the most common communication model used in

low-level communication texts. Significant development. “Within a decade a host of other disciplines—many in the

behavioral sciences—adapted it to countless interpersonal situations, often distorting it or making exaggerated claims for its use.”

“Taken as an approximation of the process of human communication.” Significant heuristic value The various concepts of this model became staples in communication research

1. ENTROPY2. REDUNDANCY3. INFORMATION4. SENDER5. TRANSMITTER6. RECIEVER7. NOISE8. DESTINATION

THE CONCEPTS OF ENTROPY AND REDUNDANCY

Entropy and Redundancy are two opposite terms. While entropy is something that has not been experienced or seen before , redundancy is anything that can be predicted/it is the predictability in the message. It is conventional. Since they are already known and used.

ENTROPY

the measure of uncertainty in a system. Uncertainty or entropy increases in exact proportion to the number of messages from

which the source has to choose. In the simple matter of flipping a coin, entropy is low because the destination knows

the probability of a coin’s turning up either heads or tails. In the case of a two-headed coin, there can be neither any freedom of choice nor any reduction in uncertainty so long as the destination knows exactly what the outcome must be.

In other words, the value of a specific bit of information depends on the probability that it will occur.

In general, the informative value of an item in a message decreases in exact proportion to the likelihood of its occurrence.

REDUNDANCY The degree to which information is not unique in the system. Those items in a message that add no new information are redundant. Perfect

redundancy is equal to total repetition and is found in pure form only in machines. In human beings, the very act of repetition changes, in some minute way, the meaning or the message and the larger social significance of the event.

Zero redundancy creates sheer unpredictability, for there is no way of knowing what items in a sequence will come next.

As a rule, no message can reach maximum efficiency unless it contains a balance between the unexpected and the predictable, between what the receiver must have underscored to acquire understanding and what can be deleted as extraneous.

WEAKNESSES Not analogous to much of human communication.

1.)   Only a fraction of the information conveyed in interpersonal encounters can be taken as remotely corresponding to the teletype action of statistically rare or redundant signals.2.)   Though Shannon’s technical concept of information is fascinating in many respects, it ranks among the least important ways of conceiving of what we recognize as “information.

Only formal—does not account for content1.) Mortensen: “Shannon and Weaver were concerned only with technical problems associated with the selection and arrangement of discrete units of information—in short, with purely formal matters, not content. Hence, their model does not apply to semantic or pragmatic dimensions of language. “2.) Theodore Roszak provides a thoughtful critique of Shannon’s model in The Cult of Information. Roszak notes the unique way in which Shannon defined information:

Once, when he was explaining his work to a group of prominent scientists who challenged his eccentric definition, he replied, “I think perhaps the word ‘information’ is causing more trouble . . . than it is worth, except that it is difficult to find another word that is anywhere near right3.) As Roszak points out, Shannon’s model has no mechanism for distinguishing important ideas from pure non-sense:In much the same way, in its new technical sense, information has come to denote whatever can be coded for transmission through a channel that connects a source with a receiver, regardless of semantic content. For Shannon’s purposes, all the following are “information”:E = mc2Jesus saves.Thou shalt not kill.I think, therefore I am.

Static and LinearMortensen: “Finally, the most serious shortcoming of the Shannon-Weaver communication system is that it is relatively static and linear. It conceives of a linear and literal transmission of information from one location to another. The notion of linearity leads to misleading ideas when transferred to human conduct; some of the problems can best be underscored by studying several alternative models of communication.”

This linear communication model is a basic representation of how people communicate with each other. It involves two people, the sender and the receiver. The sender conveys a piece of information, called the "message" to the receiver by any channel of communication. Different channels of communication are email, face-to-face, and over the phone. Every channel of communication is susceptible to a different kind of "noise", or distraction, such as a pop-up add, or poor cell-phone reception. The noise is not necessarily auditory, it is anything that reduces the clarity of the message.

This model can be applied to many situations, but it is most accurately applied to online communication. The main reason is that channels of communication like email do not allow for immediate feedback. Example: You, the sender, send an email, the channel of communication, about earning extra credit, the message, to your teacher, the recipient. Your poor grammar, noise, makes it harder for your teacher to understand your message,

NON-LINEAR MODELS OF COMMUNICATION

3.DANCE’S HELICAL SPIRAL

BACKGROUNDDance's model emphasized the complexity of communication. He was interested in the evolutionary nature of the process of communication. Dance said that if communication is complex, it was the responsibility of the scholar to adapt our examination of communication to the challenge of studying something in motion. Dance includes the concept of time - this model emphasizes time in that each act can be said to be built on the others that come before it.

This model depicts communication as a dynamic process. Mortensen: “The helix represents the way communication evolves in an individual from his birth to the existing moment.”

Dance: “At any and all times, the helix gives geometrical testimony to the concept that communication while moving forward is at the same moment coming back upon itself and being affected by its past behavior, for the coming curve of the helix is fundamentally affected by the curve from which it emerges.

Yet, even though slowly, the helix can gradually free itself from its lower-level distortions. The communication process, like the helix, is constantly moving forward and yet is always to some degree dependent upon the past, which informs the present and the future. The helical communication model offers a flexible communication process

STRENGTHS Mortensen: “As a heuristic device, the helix is interesting not so much for what it says as for

what it permits to be said. Hence, it exemplifies a point made earlier: It is important to approach models in a spirit of speculation and intellectual play.”

Chapanis (1961) called “sophisticated play:”The helix implies that communication is continuous, unrepeatable, additive, and accumulative; that is, each phase of activity depends upon present forces at work as they are defined by all that has occurred before. All experience contributes to the shape of the unfolding moment; there is no break in the action, no fixed beginning, no pure redundancy, no closure. All communicative experience is the product of learned, nonrepeatable events which are defined in ways the organism develops to be self-consistent and socially meaningful. In short, the helix underscores the integrated aspects of all human communication as an evolving process that is always turned inward in ways that permit learning, growth, and discovery.

WEAKNESSES

May not be a model at all: too few variables. If judged against conventional scientific standards, the helix does not fare well as a model.

Indeed, some would claim that it does not meet the requirements of a model at all.

More specifically, it is not a systematic or formalized mode of representation. Neither does it formalize relationships or isolate key variables.

It describes in the abstract but does not explicitly explain or make particular hypotheses testable.

Generates Questions, but leaves much unaswered.

4.KINCAID’S CONVERGENCE MODEL

BACKGROUND

D. Lawrence Kincaid is best known among communication theorists as the proponent of the convergence model of communication,[1] a nonlinear model of communication wherein two communicators strive to reach "mutual understanding." In recent years this model has been particularly popular among proponents of development communication.

The model was developed by D.Lawerence Kincaid in 1979. It proposes the share of information among people.

In the convergence model, "communication" is defined as a process in which participants create and share information with one another in order to reach a mutual understanding.

STRENGHTHS

Lawrence Kincaid proposed the Convergence Model in 1979, which lead to a relational perspective of human communication

. When information is shared with individuals or groups taking part in the communication process, it may lead collective action towards mutual agreement and mutual understanding. Before this, the information is understood, interpreted and perceived by individuals.

Communication is this model is viewed as a process rather than a single event . The model emphasizes information exchange and networks that exist between individuals A DYNAMIC AND CYCLICAL PROCESS

The convergence model represents human communication as a dynamic, cyclical process over time, characterized by:• Mutual causation, rather than one-way mechanistic causation;• Emphasizing the interdependent relationship of the participants, rather than a bias toward either the "source" or the "receiver" of a message.• Mutual understanding and mutual agreement are the primary goals of the communication process. They are the points toward which the participants either converge or diverge over time.

WEAKNESSES Just as no single behavioural theory explains and predicts all human behaviour, no

communication theory explains and predicts all communication outcomes. Some view this as a fragmentation in understanding the role of a communication in human

affairs. Others view this as a productive theoretical diversity, conducive to the understanding of human activity in many complex dimensions.

OVERVIEW

Kincaid’s model emphasis on sharing of information among people. Sharing of information makes life easier.

Some of the situations or examples where Kincaid’s model of communication can be experienced are Social networking sites like Facebook, twitter provide a platform to debate, talk about issues. They create a network of communication. Facebook foe example has led to many movements.

5.BECKER’S MOSIAC MODEL

This model was developed by Becker in 1969

According to        Mortensen: “Becker assumes that most communicative acts link message elements from more than one social situation. In the tracing of various elements of a message, it is clear that the items may result in part from a talk with an associate, from an obscure quotation read years before, from a recent TV commercial,

and from numerous other dissimilar situations—moments of introspection, public debate, coffee-shop banter, daydreaming, and so on.

In short, the elements that make up a message ordinarily occur in bits and pieces. Some items are separated by gaps in time, others by gaps in modes of presentation, in social situations, or in the number of persons present.

Also    Mortensen said that Becker likens complex communicative events to the activity of a receiver who moves through a constantly changing cube or mosaic of information . The layers of the cube correspond to layers of information.

Each section of the cube represents a potential source of information; note that some are blocked out in recognition that at any given point some bits of information are not available for use. Other layers correspond to potentially relevant sets of information.

STRENGTHS

It depicts the incredible complexity of communication as influenced by a constantly changing milieu.

It also accounts for variations in exposure to messages. In some circumstances receivers may be flooded by relevant information; in others they may encounter only a few isolated items. Individual differences also influence level of exposure; some people seem to be attuned to a large range of information, while others miss or dismiss much as extraneous.

Different kinds of relationships between people and messages cut through the many levels of exposure. Some relationships are confined to isolated situations, others to recurrent events. Moreover, some relationships center on a particular message, while others focus on more diffuse units; that is, they entail a complex set of relationships between a given message and the larger backdrop of information against which it is interpreted.

It may be useful to conceive of an interaction between two mosaics. One comprises the information in a given social milieu, as depicted in the model; the other includes the private mosaic of information that is internal to the receiver. The internal mosaic is every bit as complex as the one shown in the model, but a person constructs it for himself.

WEAKNESSES

Even though this model adds a third dimension, it does not easily account for all the possible dimensions involved in a communication event.

6.OSGOOD AND SCHRAMM’S CIRCULAR MODEL

The model was d Osgood and Schramm’s Circular model of communication (1954) was an attempt to rectify the earlier linear models of communication. Schramm (1954) stated “It is misleading to think of the communications process as starting somewhere and ending somewhere. It is really endless. We are little switchboard centers handling and re-routing the great endless current of information”. Therefore, the Circular model is devoted to two actors who reciprocate in identical functions throughout: encoding, decoding, and interpreting.It did not follow the conventional pattern of receiver and sender.

SEMANTICS & INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION.

SEMANTICS: s the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols.

INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION: it is a communication or conversation occurring between two people or more. It is generally a dialogue.

the model offers some explanation in semantic noise and interpersonal communication and how these might affect the communication process as a whole . This explaination may also be seen as the strength of d model.

The model presented by Osgood and Schramm shows not only the transmission and hearing of a message, but offers explanations in how it can be perceived and understood.

The process of understanding what has been said can vary widely from person to person as there will always be a degree of semantic noise to be taken into account, such as cultural differences, background, socioeconomics, education and values.

The degree of semantic noise may impact on how a message is perceived; it would also be fair to say that it can determine the feedback given, thus shape the development of future communication.

EXAMPLE: if a patient has an ear problem goes to a doctor of a foreign origin, the doctor might have problem in understanding the symptoms of the patient and might misdiagnose the problem . the patient may also have trouble in taking his advice due to the heavy accent, here language is the problem of semantics.

7.GEORGE GERBNER

BACKGROUND

George Gerbner produced a mode of for mass communication.Saw mass communication as an act of transferring messages, meanings & reality.

He emphasised on reality and its relationship with communication. MASS COMMUNICATION: Mass communication is the term used to describe the academic

study of the various means by which individuals and entities relay information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time. It is usually understood to relate to newspaper and magazine publishing, radio, television and film, as these are used both for disseminating news and for advertising. In other words it is communicating with people in mass numbers through various channels like newspaper.

REALITY: In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined.[1] In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible.

Gerbner ’s model consisted of two dimensions:

1.perception and reception

2.saw the whole things as a means of of control.

He also developed The Cultivation theory alongside Larry Gross .

Cultivation theory in its most basic form, then, suggests that exposure to television, over time, subtly "cultivates" viewers' perceptions of reality.

This cultivation can have an impact even on light viewers of TV, because the impact on heavy viewers has an impact on our entire culture.

Gerbner and Gross (1976) say "television is a medium of the socialization of most people into standardized roles and behaviors. Its function is in a word, enculturation"

George Gerbner tried to determine the influence of television on viewers" ideas of the environment they lived in.

He found that dominance of TV created a common view of the world and that it homogenized different cultures.

TV portrayed the society as a bad place to live in leading to people becoming distrustful of the world.

Over time, particular symbols, images, messages, meanings become dominant and are absorbed as the truth. Cultural stereotypes, ways of assessing value and hierarchies are established.

9. SCHRAMM’S MODEL OF COMMUNICATION

Wilbur L. Schramm was a forefather in the development of a basic model of communication. His model is a derivation of the Shannon-Weaver transmission model of communication. The Shannon-Weaver model proposed 5elements of communication:

SENDER/ENCODER: the sender is source or the origin of the message. It refers to the activities through which the ideas get translated into a form that may be perceived by the receiver.

MESSAGE: a message is that thought that is converted into the actual idea.

CHANNEL: channel is the medium or path through which the message is delivered. It may be a t.v,radio, or written.

DECODER/RECEIVER: he is the one who receives the message. It is important for the receiver or the decoder to have the same aspirations and thoughts as the sender to understand the message in its right sense and avoid any sort of distortion

NOISE: any kind of disturbance , internal or external or any sort of interruption is called noise.its occurrence leads to distortion of the message conveyed.

Wilbur Schramm's 1954 model expands on this thinking by emphasizing the process of encoding and decoding the message. Schramm envisioned this process as a two-way circular communication between the sender and receiver. Where the Shannon-Weaver model is a more mathematical and technological one, Schramm incorporates the study of human behavior in the communication process.

In addition to the 5 elements above, Schramm has included these concepts:

Feedback - information that comes back from the receiver to the sender and tells him how well he is doing. It is the process of acknowledgement.

FEEDBACK LOOP

Field of Experience - an individual's beliefs, values, experiences and learned meanings both as an individual or part of a group.

Also,Dr. Schramm suggests that the message can be complicated by different meanings learned by different people. Meanings can be denotative or connotative. Denotative meanings are common or dictionary meanings and can be roughly the same for most people. Connotative meanings are emotional or evaluative and based on personal experience.

A message can also have surface and latent meanings. Other characteristics of messages that impact communication between two individuals are: intonations and pitch patterns, accents, facial expressions, quality of voice, and gestures. The successful transmission of a message depends on whether this message will be accepted over all the competing messages.

Schramm's model of communication also allows for the process of interpreting the message. This process is influenced by the presence of both physical (phone, tv, sirens, etc.) and semantic (distractions, age, attitudes, etc.) noise.

Dr. Schramm believed that all of these elements were important functions of communication in society. He felt that people in a society need information on their environment and methods of communicating in order to make decisions. Most importantly we need "places to store the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of a society and this is why we have libraries".

Within a library, all of these elements of Wilbur Schramm's communication model are useful in addressing problems with conducting a reference interview. This model provides the rationale to solve the problem presented in this project.

BACKGROUND

Wilbur Schramm (1954) was one of the first to alter the mathematical model of Shannon and Weaver. He conceived of decoding and encoding as activities maintained simultaneously by sender and receiver; he also made provisions for a two-way interchange of messages. Notice also the inclusion of an “interpreter” as an abstract representation of the problem of meaning.

STRENGTHS

Schramm provided the additional notion of a “field of experience,” or the psychological frame of reference; this refers to the type of orientation or attitudes which interact ants maintain toward each other.

Included Feedback1.Communication is reciprocal, two-way, even though the feedback may be delayed.2..Some of these methods of communication are very direct, as when you talk in direct response to someone.3.Others are only moderately direct; you might squirm when a speaker drones on and on, wrinkle your nose and scratch your head when a message is too abstract, or shift your body position when you think it’s your turn to talk.

3. Still other kinds of feedback are completely indirect.

For example,

1. politicians discover if they’re getting their message across by the number of votes cast on the first Tuesday in November;

2.commercial sponsors examine sales figures to gauge their communicative effectiveness in ads;

3.teachers measure their abilities to get the material across in a particular course by seeing how many students sign up for it the next term.

Included Context

1.) A message may have different meanings, depending upon the specific context or setting.

2.) Shouting “Fire!” on a rifle range produces one set of reactions-reactions quite different from those produced in a crowded theater.

Included Culture1.A message may have different meanings associated with it depending upon the culture or society. Communication systems, thus, operate within the confines of cultural rules and expectations to which we all have been educated.2.Other model designers abstracted the dualistic aspects of communication as a series of “loops,” (Mysak, 1970), “speech cycles” (Johnson, 1953), “co-orientation” (Newcomb, 1953), and overlapping “psychological fields” (Fearing, 1953).

WEAKNESS:

Schramm’s model, while less linear, still accounts for only bilateral communication between two parties. The complex, multiple levels of communication between several sources is beyond this model.