WEEK 3

INTRODUCTION OF
COMMUNICATION
by: ADZROOL IDZWAN BIN ISMAIL (Ph.D/ Assoc. Prof Ts.)
Lasswell’s model
Harold Dwight Lasswell, the American
political scientist states that a convenient
way to describe an act of communication
is to answer the following questions
◇ Who
◇ Says What
◇ In Which Channel
◇ To Whom
◇ With what effect?
According to Lasswell there are
three functions for
communication:

i. Surveillance of the environment

ii. Correlation of components of society

iii. Cultural transmission between generation

◇ It suggests the message flow in a multicultural society
with multiple audiences. The flow of message is through
various channels.

◇ communication = “Control Analysis”,

◇ says = “Content Analysis”,

◇ channel = “Media Analysis”,

◇ To Whom = “Audience Analysis”

◇ With What Effect = “Effect Analysis”

Advantage of Lasswell
Model:

◇ It is Easy and Simple

◇ It suits for almost all types of

communication

◇ The concept of effect

Disadvantage of
Lasswell Model

◇ Feedback not mentioned

◇ Noise not mentioned

◇ Linear Model
 “Shannon-Weaver model of
communication”.

◇In 1948, Shannon was an American

mathematician, Electronic engineer and
Weaver was an American scientist both of
them join together to write an article in
“Bell System Technical Journal” called “A
Mathematical Theory of Communication”
and also called as “Shannon-Weaver
model of communication”.
◇ This model is specially designed to develop
the effective communication between sender
and receiver. Also they find factors which
affecting the communication process called
“Noise”. At first the model was developed to
improve the Technical communication. Later
it’s widely applied in the field of
Communication.
 Elements

◇ Sender : The originator of message or the information

source selects desire message
◇ Encoder : The transmitter which converts the message into
signals
◇ Decoder : The reception place of the signal which converts
signals into message. A reverse process of encode
◇ Receiver : The destination of the message from sender
◇ Noise: The messages are transferred from encoder to
decoder through channel. During this process the messages
may distracted or affected by physical noise like horn
sounds, thunder and crowd noise or encoded signals may
distract in the channel during the transmission process
which affect the communication flow or the receiver may
not receive the correct message
 Practical Example of Shannon-
Weaver model of communication

Sender : Thomson

Encoder : Telephone (Thomson)

Channel : Cable

Noise : Distraction in voice

Reception : Telephone (Assistant)

Receiver : Assistant.
 Criticism of Shannon-Weaver
model of communication
◇ 1. One of the simplest model and its general
applied in various communication theories
2. The model which attracts both academics of
Human communication and Information
theorist to leads their further research in
communication
3. It’s more effective in person-to-person
communication than group or mass audience
4. The model based on “Sender and Receiver”. Here
sender plays the primary role and receiver plays the
secondary role (receive the information or passive)
5. Communication is not a one way process. If it’s
behaved like that, it will lose its strength. For example:
Audience or receiver who listening a radio, reading the
books or watching television is a one way
communication because absence of feedback
6. Understanding Noise will helps to solve the various
problems in communication
The Shannon-Weaver Model
 BERLO
SMCR MODEL OF
COMMUNICATION

◇ The Berlo’s model follows the smcr

model this model is not specific to

any particular communication.

 Elements
◇ Source: The source is were the message originates.

◇ Communication skills – It is the individual’s skill to

communicate (ability to read, write, speak, listen etc…)

◇ Attitudes – The attitude towards the audience, subject and

towards one self for e.g. for the student the attitude is to
learn more and for teachers wants to help teach.

◇ Knowledge– The knowledge about the subject one is going to

communicate for e.g. whatever the teacher communicates in
the class about the subject so having knowledge in what you
are communicating
◇ Social system – The Social system includes the
various aspects in society like values, beliefs,
culture, religion and general understanding of
society. It is were the communication takes
place
Ø Note: We can communicate only
to the extent that the social
system allows, when we
communicate take social system
into account.
◇ Culture: Culture of the particular society also
comes under social system.
◇ Encoder: The sender of the message
(message originates) is referred as
encoder, so the source is encoding the
message here.

◇ Message

◇ Content – The beginning to the end of a

message comprises its content for
e.g. From beginning to end whatever the
class teacher speaks in the class is the
content of the message
◇ Elements – It includes various things like
language, gestures, body language etc, so
these are all the elements of the particular
message. Content is accompanied by some
elements.
◇ Treatment – It refers to the packing of the
message. The way in which the message is
conveyed or the way in which the message
is passed on or deliver it.
Ø Note: When it is too much
treatment also the
communication will not
happen properly
◇ Structure– The structure of the message how it is
arranged, the way you structure the message into
various parts.
Ø Note: Message is the same but if the
structure is not properly arranged then
the message will not get to the receiver.
◇ Code– The code of the message means how it is sent in
what form it could be e.g. language, body language,
gestures, music and even culture is a code. Through
this you get/give the message or through which the
communication takes place or being reached.
Ø Note: Only when the code is proper,
the message will be clear, improper use
may lead to misinterpretation
Channel– It is nothing but the five senses
through this only we do. The following
are the five senses which we use

◇ Hearing

◇ Seeing

◇ Touching

◇ Smelling

◇ Tasting
 ◇ This model believes that for an
effective communication to take
place the source and the receiver
needs to be in the same level, only

“
if the source and receiver are on
the same level communication will
happen or take place properly. So
source and receiver should be
similar
 Criticism of Berlo’s SMCR
model of Communication:
◇ No feedback / don’t know about the effect
◇ Does not mention barriers to communication
◇ No room for noise
◇ Complex model
◇ It is a linear model of communication
◇ Needs people to be on same level for communication to
occur but not true in real life
◇ Main drawback of the model is that the model omits the
usage of sixth sense as a channel which is actually a gift to
the human beings (thinking, understanding, analyzing etc).
 Berlo S-M-R-C Model

◇ When one is
attempting to
convey an
emotionally complex
message, the Berlo
Model may be the
more appropriate
choice.
 Website design – Aristotle’s
“Rhetorical” principles (part 1)
◇ Ethos - ethos, from which we get the word "ethical," has
to do with reputation or character, in other words what
other people think of us and whether they feel they can
trust us.
￭ In terms of digital design, ethos or credibility is
extremely important for you to keep in mind
because online trust determines whether people
feel your site and its message are credible. Digital
ethos can be constructed by a number of factors,
such as visual appeal, organized navigation, and
rich information content. Yet the ancient Greek
word ethos also had another basic meaning, that
of habitual gathering place, and in some regards,
online ethos can also be seen as whether a
designer has constructed a site to which people
can return again and again, or whether the site
creates a sense of online community through user
interactions.
◇ Logos - logos, from which we get the word
"logical," concerns the logic and consistency of
the message being communicated.
￭ In other words, does the content of your
site make sense and is it written in a
consistent tone or style? Consistency also
becomes important in terms of overall site
structure. A poorly organized site with
visually confusing pages can undermine the
concept of logos, which in turn can reduce
the site's overall ethos. For Aristotle, all
points of the rhetorical triangle were
interrelated.
◇ Pathos - pathos, from which we get the words
"pathetic" and "empathy," deals with the
emotions, specifically those of the audience. In
classical rhetorical theory, playing on an
audience's emotions was seen as a primary vehicle
of persuasion, but in more modern times, pathos
has come to mean any rhetorical act that
addresses audience expectations or information
needs.
￭ In this regard, it is extremely important that
you understand and analyze the audiences for
your Web site, anticipating their informational
and navigational needs at every click of your
site. That is why Jakob Nielsen and his
colleague stress using concise, scannable text
in all Web documents -- because that's the
way most Web users read.
 WEEK 4

INTRODUCTION OF
COMMUNICATION
by: ADZROOL IDZWAN BIN ISMAIL (Ph.D/ Assoc. Prof Ts.)