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SYSTEMS THEORIES OF COMMUNICATION PROCESSES:System

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Theories of Communication ­ MCM 511
VU
LESSON 20
SYSTEMS THEORIES OF COMMUNICATION PROCESSES
Although psychologists led communication researchers to the possibility of individual media effects,
engineers alerted these researcher to the possibility of developing holistic explanations for societal or
system wide effects.
System
System consists of a set of parts that interlinked so that changes in one part induce changes in other
parts. System parts can be directly linked through mechanical connections or can be indirectly linked by
communication technology. Because all parts are linked, the entire system can change as a result of
alterations in only one element.
Systems can be goal directed if there is a long-term objective that they are designed to accomplish.
Some systems are capable of monitoring the environment and altering their operations in response to
environmental changes.
Interest in systems began with electronics engineers who developed systems that could be programmed
to pursue goals, monitor the environment and adjust actions so that the goals were achieved.
These engineers were concerned with designing systems in which communication links functioned
efficiently and transmitted information accurately. Communication was a means to an end, if a
communication link didn't work properly then the solution was obvious. Communication technology
had to be improved so that desired levels of effectiveness and accuracy were achieved.
How it is applied to society?
Thus, in designing and engineering systems of the type, communication problems were solved by
technological change. As a result, during the 1950,s and 1960s there was optimism that important,
societal ­level communication problems might also be solved by improving the accuracy of message
transmissions.
The rise of systems theory
After World War II social scientists became intrigued by system notions. These models fundamentally
altered how relationships between variables were understood. But most 1960s social systems theorists
acknowledged that the greatest and most recent impetus toward the development of systems theories
came from an engineering subfield known as CYBERNETICS, the study of regulation and control in
complex machines.
Cybernetics investigates how communication links between the various parts of a machine enable it to
perform very complex tasks and adjust to changes taking place in its external environment.
Cybernetics proved especially useful for communications engineering ­ the design of powerful new
communication system for military applications, such as radar. Communication engineers had
abandoned simple, linear model of the communication process by the 1940s. A circular but evolving
communication process was conceptualized in which messages come back from receivers to influence
sources that in turn alter their messages. These circular process were referred to a as feedback loops. In
these systems, an ongoing mutual adjustment is possible that ultimately leads to achieving a long-term
objective or function. Complex machines rely on feedback loops as means of making ongoing
adjustments to changes caused by the environment. Feedback loops enable sources to monitor the
influence of their messages on receivers. But just as important, receivers can in turn influence sources.
If the effects are not what is expected or desired, a source can alter a message until the desired feedback
is obtained. So the machines built in the World War II provided sophisticated means of detecting subtle
changes so that a weapons system could achieve it objective. We refer to these as `communication
systems' if their function is primarily to facilitate communication. By this definition, a guided missile is
not a communication system. It is a weapons system that contains a communication.
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Theories of Communication ­ MCM 511
VU
Mathematical theory of communication
Communications engineers also made important breakthrough that is central to the current revolution in
communications technology. Accuracy in message transmission is essential if systems are to operate
effectively and achieve long-term goals. Even minor errors can compound over time and lead to serious
problems. To address this situation, communication engineers developed a very sophisticated system.
The flow was known as a signal and each element in it was labeled an information bit. The ultimate
information bit is a digital bit-one that is either present or absent.
Methods of monitoring the accuracy of transmission of bits were developed. Any difference between the
signal sent and the signal received were viewed as errors or noise. High levels of noise tolerated if a
message is redundant, that is, if it contains many bits that carry the same information. Every
communication link can be seen as a channel, and every channel can be seen as having a certain
capacity to transmit an accurate signal.
Obviously it is better to have channels that can accurately transmit complex signals. When accuracy is a
problem, redundancy can be increased, but this reduces efficiency because the same information is
being sent more than once. E.g. AM radio is static. Static is thousand of erroneous bits of information
that have somehow entered the signal as it moves from the radio transmitter to our receiver. Whereas
FM signals aren't as subject to the introduction of errors as the signals moves from transmitter to
receiver, so you receive a more accurate transmission of the original signal.
Similarly the trend in communication engineering has been to find ways to reduce or even eliminate
noise, improve efficiency and increase channel capacity.
This is the basis for contemporary work on digital high definition television (HDTV). Rather than
transmitting 30 frames a second as does traditional television, HDTV transmits only digital information
about the changes that occur between those frames. E.G newscasters reading the news. The background
does not change only their mouths and facial expressions change. After the initial transmission all that is
sent and received in a digital HDTV system is information about changes in that original scene. Noise is
reduced, efficiency is improved and channel capacity is increased as only necessary information enters
the system.
Notions about signals, noise, bits, efficiency, redundancy and channel capacity have found their way
into mass communication theory through a variety of sources.
Mathematical theory
One of the first and most important books was the Mathematical theory written by Claude Shannon and
Warren Weaver in 1949 .They believed that these new concepts would transform how all forms of
communication were understood, they were optimistic that it might even be possible to remedy
macroscopic, societal-level communication problems using these very microscopic notions. Their ideas
came to be referred to as information theory.
In communications technology and the design of communication systems, the theory has been
enormously successful. Technology based on this theory is providing the building blocks constructing
the Information Superhighways. Information Superhighways means a worldwide system of computer
networks accessible to any user connected to it.
Designers of this super-communications system promised that it would provide us with vast quantities
of information at low cost in convenient, user-friendly format, and that promise seems to have been
fulfilled. But efficient, accurate transmission isn't enough, entry into the information age has been
accompanied by a troubling escalation in social problems.
Only recently have system theorists begun to recognize and try to develop more complex models that
allow ongoing transformation of systems.
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Theories of Communication ­ MCM 511
VU
Adoption of system models by Mass communication theorists
Systems models replaced the Transmissional model that was implicit in most of the early effects
research. Lasswell provided a cogent, succinct version of this model when he described the
communication process as who says what to whom through what medium with what effect.
The Transmissional model assumes that a message source dominates the communication process and
the primary outcome of the process is some sort of effect on receivers-usually one intended by the
source .Influence moves or flows in a straight line from source to receivers. The possibility that the
message receivers mighty also influence the source is ignored. Attention is focused on whether a source
brings about intended effects or whether unintended negative effects occur.
Mutual or reciprocal influence is not considered. Communication theorists proposed new models of
communication processes with feedback loops in which receivers could influence sources and mutual
influence was possible. Westley and Maclean in 1957 provided a good example of this type of model.
Most conversations involve mutual influence, participants send out message, obtain feedback, and then
adjust their actions. In overall social environment can be understood as something that is created by
ongoing negotiation between actors.
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Table of Contents:
  1. COMMUNICATION:Nature of communication, Transactional approach, Communication is symbolic:
  2. THEORY, PARADIGM AND MODEL (I):Positivistic Perspective, Critical Perspective
  3. THEORY, PARADIGM AND MODEL (II):Empirical problems, Conceptual problems
  4. FROM COMMUNICATION TO MASS COMMUNICATION MODELS:Channel
  5. NORMATIVE THEORIES:Authoritarian Theory, Libertarian Theory, Limitations
  6. HUTCHINS COMMISSION ON FREEDOM, CHICAGO SCHOOL & BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THEORY
  7. CIVIC JOURNALISM, DEVELOPMENT MEDIA THEORY & DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPANT THEORY
  8. LIMITATIONS OF THE PRESS THEORY:Concentration and monopoly, Commercialism
  9. MCQUAIL’S FOUR KINDS OF THEORIES:Social scientific theory, Critical theory
  10. PROPAGANDA THEORIES:Origin of Propaganda, Engineering of Consent, Behaviorism
  11. PARADIGM SHIFT & TWO STEP FLOW OF INFORMATION
  12. MIDDLE RANGE THEORIES:Background, Functional Analysis Approach, Elite Pluralism
  13. KLAPPER’S PHENOMENSITIC THEORY:Klapper’s Generalizations, Criticism
  14. DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION THEORY:Innovators, Early adopters
  15. CHALLENGING THE DOMINANT PARADIGM:Catharsis Social learning Social cognitive theory
  16. SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEROY:Symbolizing Capacity, MODELLING
  17. MODELING FROM MASS MEDIA:Recent research, Summary, PRIMING EFFECTS
  18. PRIMING EFFECT:Conceptual Roots, Perceived meaning, Percieved justifiability
  19. CULTIVATION OF PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL REALITY:History
  20. SYSTEMS THEORIES OF COMMUNICATION PROCESSES:System
  21. EMERGENCE OF CRITICAL & CULTURAL THEORIES OF MASS COMMUNICATION
  22. REVISION:Positivistic perspective, Interpretive Perspective, Inductive approach
  23. CRITICAL THEORIES & ROLE OF MASS COMMUNICATION IN A SOCIETY -THE MEDIATION OF SOCIAL RELATIONS
  24. ROLE OF MASS MEDIA IN SOCIAL ORDER & MARXIST THEORY:Positive View
  25. KEY PRINCIPLES USED IN MARXISM:Materialism, Class Struggle, Superstructure
  26. CONSUMER SOCIETY:Role of mass media in alienation, Summary of Marxism
  27. COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE:Neo Marxism, Characteristics of Culture
  28. HEGEMONY:What exactly is the meaning of "hegemony"?
  29. CULTURE INDUSTRY:Gramscianism on Communications Matters
  30. POLITICAL ECONOMIC THEORY I:Internationalization, Vertical Integration
  31. POLITICAL ECONOMIC THEORY II:Diversification, Instrumental
  32. POLITICAL ECONOMIC THEORY III:Criticism, Power of Advertising
  33. AGENDA SETTING THEORY:A change in thinking, First empirical test
  34. FRAMING & SPIRAL OF SILENCE:Spiral of Silence, Assessing public opinion
  35. SPIRAL OF SILENCE:Fear of isolation, Assessing public opinion, Micro-level
  36. MARSHALL MCLUHAN: THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE AND MASSAGE
  37. KNOWLEDGE GAP THEORY:Criticism on Marshal McLuhan
  38. MEDIA SYSTEM DEPENDENCY THEORY:Media System Dependency Theory
  39. USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY:Methods
  40. RECEPTION THEORY
  41. FRAMING AND FRAME ANALYSIS:Information Processing Theory, Summing up
  42. TRENDS IN MASS COMMUNICATION I:Communication Science, Direct channels
  43. TRENDS IN MASS COMMUNICATION II:Communication Maxims, Emotions
  44. GLOBALIZATION AND MEDIA:Mediated Communication, Post Modernism
  45. REVISION:Microscopic Theories, Mediation of Social Relations