What is communication?
By Debbie Harris, Contributor

THIS WEEK we will be attempting to increase our knowledge of the communication concept. There are no questions which will require you to define communication. however, you will need to understand and analyse the process of communication and apply these to any communicative event.

There are a number of definitions which have been suggested by several communication specialists.

Communication has been defined as the process of people interacting through the use of messages [Zeuschner: 1997]. Also it has been referred to as the process of human beings responding to the symbolic behaviour of other persons [Alder & Rodman: 2000]. These by no means exhaust the various ways in which it can be defined but they do provide us with some idea of what
characterises the concept of communication which is relevant to the communication studies course.

A close observation of them reveals that communication is a process [not an event], it involves people, it involves interaction among people and it involves the use of messages.

As a process, communication is dynamic, continuous, irreversible and contextual. It is inevitable, that is, it is sure to happen and cannot be altered or revoked. All communicative events involve content and relationship. Content refers to the substance of the message while relationship tells of the receiver and sender and how they perceive their interaction. Finally, communication happens in a setting or context and it is from such that much meaning is derived. Context may be defined as a culture, location or a relationship.

Within the process of communication there are six
primary elements.

They include the following:

* Context
* Messages
* Channels
* Senders/Sources/Encoders
* Receivers/ Decoders
* Integration and Feedback/Interference/Noise

ELEMENTS OF THE PROCESS

DESCRIPTION OF THE ELEMENTS OF THE PROCESS

1. Context
Setting/environment: place, time, surrounding events, physical and psychological climates.

2. Sources/senders
Human originators of the message or definers of the purpose of the message.

3. Messages
Content, that is, verbal [written/spoken] and non-verbal [gestures, movements, smells or objects].

4. Channels
Means through which messages are transmitted, e.g., sound waves, light waves or other sense-stimulating means.

5. Receivers/decoders
Ultimate goal or destination of a message; translators of messages.

6. Interaction
The back-and-forth nature of communication [sometimes called transaction]. All parties in the communication event influence and are influenced by the event.

7. Interference/feedback/noise
Responses, interruptions or blockages to interaction. A response maybe to give an answer to a question, to think about it, or to try to respond even without full understanding.

DESCRIBING THE PROCESS

The process is both cyclical and transactional. The event begins with the conceptualisation of the message and this is the sender's role as the originator of the message.

In addition, it is the sender's task to codify the contents of the message and to select its medium and channel. These parts of the process are called encoding and selection of channels respectively. The receiver's role is chiefly decoding and interpreting the message sent to him/her and then providing some feedback for the sender. It is very important for you to understand that both the sender and the receiver conceptualise, encode, select medium and channel, decode, interpret and provide feedback in all communicative events.

Often during communicative events there is some sort of interference or blockage to interaction. These are commonly referred to as barriers to communication and may be internal or external in nature.

Some examples of internal barriers are daydreaming, anxiety and hunger while external barriers would be noise from a lawn mower, gestures, attire, posture, chatting, spilled beverage on a page and choice of words.

ACTIVITY
Here's an activity which might help you to apply what you have learnt this week:

Identify an interpersonal or small group communication setting and analyse the communication process. [This setting can be at school, home, a party or friends simply hanging out].

Be sure to:

* Identify the elements
* Describe the process
* Discuss the barriers
* Remembr that you need to get a communication studies syllabus.

Until next week, walk good!