Communications Overview

Research
Communications are not words words are part of communications; communications is wider than language. Can also be signs and symbols. Print communications were present since the Guttenberg (Middle Ages) but became more numerous with the 18th-19th century and the creation of the newspaper. o Included a specialized area of study wherein the way messages were sent was analysed language (syntax, grammar, encryption), human and interpersonal. After the First and Second World Wars, political communication became a vast area of study. What is communications? o People being aware and able to articulate/share their deepest thoughts to others. We communicate: o Emotions/thoughts manifest themselves in our behaviour. o We articulate these thoughts/emotions to others. o Others observe behaviours. o Others listen to our manifested emotions/thoughts and provide feedback. Communications: o A process of negotiated meanings. Social by its very nature. o Process enhances own thoughts/emotions and those of others. Increases collective experiences/knowledge. Different forms of communications: o Intrapersonal (with yourself). o Interpersonal (with others). o Intergenerational (with people of different ages). o Mass. o Social. Other forms: o Human-machine. o Machine-machine. Research: o Verifying claims about communications. How does a child feel without a mobile phone? Viewing violent media causes antisocial behaviour. Children learn from media viewing. o Means a lot of things. o A systematic process of collecting evidence to support claims. o Public, open system. o Not error proof. o Answer leads to other questions never-ending cycle of knowledge.

Depends on the type of question/claim. Uncovers knowledge about the world. Everybody contributes to knowledge. Ex: Children in Malta spend an average of 100 on media communications per month. Type of question: Qualitive research seeing the world from subjects perspective through research. Quantitive research a detached view in numerals. Both questions answered. Both have a systematic research procedure. Both give different results. Both required. Operationalization: o What do we mean by children? o What do we mean by media communications? o We need to be precise. o Without operationalization, research will not count. Collect evidence: o Self-reporting data-gathering instruments questionnaires. o Observation. o Checklist. o Experiments within controlled settings. When the interviewer wants to establish a cause-effect relationship with the person being asked. o When asking questions, be careful about how they are phrased as people are unlikely to answer if they consider the answer to be incriminating, embarrassing or personal. Qualitative research: o Looking for meaning: Interview. Semi-structured interview. Focus groups. Diaries & journals. Closure: o On basis of collected evidence, researcher builds synthesis. o Discovers patterns and relationships. o Provides evidence and reason for results. o A systematic process with a lot of rules to follow, depending on the research method. Method is not error-proof: o Others can criticize. o Public scrutiny. o Validation repeat study in similar/different contexts. o If repeated validation, claim approaches theory: Explaining causal relations. Within bounded circumstance. Under certain conditions. o If validation is not forthcoming, it will exist only as scientific opinion. o Different research methods: Semiotic tradition takes all actions/behaviour as a text. o o o o

Individual/collective meaning may not. Socio-psychological. Claims cannot be so easily verified, and the more counter-intuitive the claim, the more you will need to support your argument by verifying it and producing evidence that supports your claim. Contributes to building a knowledge base that allows scholars to explain and predict media events. Traditions that contribute significantly to research in the communications field: o Rhetoric: The oldest. Attempting to reach the intended audience through conviction and persuasion. Promotes message management. Distinguishes between logical and emotional messages. Pivotal in advertising and instructional design areas. o Semiotic: The use of empirical communication events as a sign of deeper meaning that lie in each and every one of us. Human communication becomes like a text. Communications become a connection point between individuals. Prominence in Communication Studies. o Socio-psychological: Enhanced due to major breakthrough in psychological fields. Allows scholars to study how communication impacts internal information processing, interaction and how different types of messages influence different people. View the interaction of messages with individual differences. Such knowledge is constantly being harnessed to produce better communication messages, particularly online. o Socio-cultural: Communication the bond of society. Researchers study the role of communication in changing/maintaining the current social order. o Critical: Jurgen Harbermas is an expert. Communication is seen as both the result and the proponent of the current social structure. Can be oppressive. Becomes a tool to create awareness about ideology and to instigate change.

Research in Communications

Media
Media has saturated culture. Have the lines between reality and the media blurred? o People mistake movies for real life. o Take television too seriously.

Media technology of today differs drastically from older types of media technology. A huge industry employing thousands. Today, it is easier for the common man to be an informant through the use of blogging, social networks, and so on. o Views of the warzones in recent news were delivered by people filming the carnage on video phones. Media ethics are: o More than journalistic ethics. o Doing what is right, not what is convenient. Education about the media empowers the audiences. o Given to students so they can understand media language. What happens if the Internet disappears? o Economic recession. o Information harder to get a hold of. Internet has become a mass medium only a few years ago before, there were only a few people using the internet, but with the invention of broadband and the rise of social networks, the news on the internet is updated to the minute. Television: o Has changed the face of politics and education. o Allowed us to witness history. o Most believed by the people. Radio: o Space travel and modern aviation would not have been possible without radio. If Moses, on Mount Sinai, had had a laptop, he would have written 10,000 Commandments. Innis: The things that the words are written on are more important than the words themselves. o The rise of SMS English as mobile phones became more popular. Concept of the global village the fact that there is no play too far on Earth any more was created by McLuhan. o He also said that the medium is the message, which reasons that the way the words are delivered says as much as the words themselves. o Even space is no longer a mysterious concept as there are pictures of it and people have explored space thoroughly. Influences the development of media through: o The political system. o Economy/industry. o Religion and culture. o Laws and education. Our media landscape is the result of our society. Society is within the concept of globalization the media is a globalized industry. o There are nine television stations in a small place such as Malta, and thousands in others.

Technology

Society

Business
Concentration large business empires has increased. Conglomeration same business/industry having different media has also increased. Ownership structures commercial (group of businessmen). Can have more economy of scale. Ownership structures opinion oriented (political party). o Can also be as a public service. Surveillance of information is important. Correlation to reality. Media does not always reflect reality newspapers and television programs select the news they want to show according to personal bias. Entertainment. Advertising: o 12 minutes per one hour is the regulated amount of advertising allowed. o Through product placement, manufacturers can get around this law. Advocacy journalism of attachment and pushing a view you believe in, rather than staying fair and unbiased. Implies change from A to B (complete change) or from A to A+ (partial change). Change can be in information, attitude and behaviour. Not a restriction of freedom but a guarantee of media quality. Not subjective. Has reasoned decisions. Enhances human dignity. Gives a voice to the voiceless. Ethical media is ethical and truthful.

Content

Effects on the audience

Ethics