2003.01.27 - SLIDE 1IS246 - SPRING 2003

Lecture 02: Communications Theory

IS246Multimedia Information

(FILM 240, Section 4)

Prof. Marc DavisUC Berkeley SIMS

Monday and Wednesday 2:00 pm – 3:30 pmSpring 2003

http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/academics/courses/is246/s03/

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Today’s Agenda

• Review of Last Time

• Why Study Communication Theory?

• Towards a New Understanding of

Communication

– Reddy on The Conduit Metaphor

– Iser on The Reading Process

– Barthes on “Author” and “Text”

• Action Items for Next Time

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Today’s Agenda

• Review of Last Time

• Why Study Communication Theory?

• Towards a New Understanding of

Communication

– Reddy on The Conduit Metaphor

– Iser on The Reading Process

– Barthes on “Author” and “Text”

• Action Items for Next Time

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Course Materials

• Purchase Course Reader at Copy Central on Bancroft– Corrected Course Readers available since Thursday

01/23

• Purchase Course Textbook– David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An

Introduction. 6th Edition. McGraw Hill, New York, 2001.

– Course Textbook Web Site: http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/art-film/bordwell_6_filmart/index.mhtml

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Computer Orientation

• Wednesday 01/22– Filled out SIMS/CIS

Account Request Form

• Thursday 01/23– Saw Kevin Heard and his

staff on the second floor of South Hall for access to SIMS computing resources

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Goals of the Course

• Acquire theoretical and practical foundations to analyze, design, and produce multimedia information systems– Media theory– Media practice– Current and future media systems and applications

• Learn to apply media theory to media design• Gain further experience in project-based

learning and teamwork• Develop an enduring framework and

methodology for media analysis and design

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Course Overview

• Course phases– Theoretical and practical foundations– Current issues and methods– The future of multimedia

• Course assignments– Theory application– Short media production– Final project

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The Media Problem

• Vastly more media will be produced• Without ways to manage it (metadata

creation and use) we lose the advantages of digital media

• Most current approaches are insufficient are perhaps misguided

• Great opportunity for innovation and invention

• Need interdisciplinary approaches to the problem

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Today’s Agenda

• Review of Last Time

• Why Study Communication Theory?

• Towards a New Understanding of

Communication

– Reddy on The Conduit Metaphor

– Iser on The Reading Process

– Barthes on “Author” and “Text”

• Action Items for Next Time

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Communication Theory

• Encompasses a vast array of disciplines– Mass communications, literary and media

theory, rhetoric, sociology, psychology, linguistics, law, cognitive science, information science, engineering, etc.

• Questions– What and how we communicate– Why we communicate– What happens when communication “works”

and when it doesn’t– How to improve communication

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Why Study Communication Theory?

• Our understanding of what, how, and why we communicate informs our– Theory of media and practice of media

production– Analysis, design, and evaluation of multimedia

information system and applications– How we work together in teams– How we read texts and talk with one another

in this course– Law and public policy

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Etymology of “Communication”

• Communication - c.1384, from O.Fr. communicacion, from L. communicationem (nom. communicatio), from communicare "to impart, share," lit. "to make common," from communis (see common).

• Common - 13c., from O.Fr. comun, from L. communis "shared by all or many," from L. com- "together" + munia "public duties," those related to munia "office." Alternate etymology is that Fr. got it from P.Gmc. *gamainiz (cf. O.E. gemæne), from PIE *kom-moini "shared by all," from base *moi-, *mei- "change, exchange."

• Remuneration - c.1400, from L. remunerationem, from remunerari "to reward," from re- "back" + munerari "to give," from munus (gen. muneris) "gift, office, duty." Remunerative is from 1677.

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What and How Do We Communicate?

• What “gifts” do we give each other?

• What do we do with these gifts?

• How does this gift exchange bring us together (or not)?

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Today’s Agenda

• Review of Last Time

• Why Study Communication Theory?

• Towards a New Understanding of

Communication

– Reddy on The Conduit Metaphor

– Iser on The Reading Process

– Barthes on “Author” and “Text”

• Action Items for Next Time

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Beyond the Conduit Metaphor

• Reddy– Identification of the Conduit Metaphor– Suggestion of alternate Toolmakers’

Paradigm

• Iser– The reading process as a primary example of

the Toolmakers’ Paradigm– Phenomenology of the reading process

• Barthes– New conceptions of “author” and “text”

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Today’s Agenda

• Review of Last Time

• Why Study Communication Theory?

• Towards a New Understanding of

Communication

– Reddy on The Conduit Metaphor

– Iser on The Reading Process

– Barthes on “Author” and “Text”

• Action Items for Next Time

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The Conduit Metaphor

• Language functions like a conduit, transferring thoughts bodily from one person to another

• In writing and speaking, people insert their thoughts or feelings in the words

• Words accomplish the transfer by containing the thoughts or feelings and conveying them to others

• In listening or reading, people extract the thoughts and feelings once again from the words

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Conduit Metaphor: Minor Frameworks

• Thoughts and feelings are ejected by speaking or writing into an external “idea space”

• Thoughts and feelings are reified in this external space, so they exist independent of any need for living beings to think or feel them

• These reified thoughts and feelings may, or may not, find their way back into the heads of living humans

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Toolmakers’ Paradigm

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Semantic Pathology

• Semantic Pathology– “Whenever two or more incompatible senses

capable of figuring meaningfully in the same context develop around the same name”

• Example– “This text is confusing.”

• Text(1) = The layout/font of the text is confusing.• Text(2) = The argument of the text is confusing.• Question: Where is Text(2)?

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Today’s Agenda

• Review of Last Time

• Why Study Communication Theory?

• Towards a New Understanding of

Communication

– Reddy on The Conduit Metaphor

– Iser on The Reading Process

– Barthes on “Author” and “Text”

• Action Items for Next Time

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Iser on the Literary Work

• Literary work has two poles– Artistic

• Text created by the author (Reddy’s signals)

– Esthetic• Realization accomplished by the reader (Reddy’s

Repertoire Members)

• Literary work comes to life in the interaction between text reader– Virtual dimension– Gaps

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Iser on the Reading Process

• Phenomenology of reading process similar to phenomenology of perception– Anticipation– Retrospection– Gestalt– Illusion-building/Illusion-breaking

• Interaction with repertoire (familiar)• Alien associations (unfamiliar)

• Text(1) and Text(2)

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Today’s Agenda

• Review of Last Time

• Why Study Communication Theory?

• Towards a New Understanding of

Communication

– Reddy on The Conduit Metaphor

– Iser on The Reading Process

– Barthes on “Author” and “Text”

• Action Items for Next Time

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Roland Barthes

• Death of the Author– Who is the “I” that writes?– The reader constructs the author by means of the text

• From Work to Text– Method: “The text is experienced only in an activity of

production.”– Plurality: “The text is plural.”– Filiation: The author returns to his/her text as a guest– Text is a social space which coincides only with a

practice of writing

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Today’s Agenda

• Review of Last Time

• Why Study Communication Theory?

• Towards a New Understanding of

Communication

– Reddy on The Conduit Metaphor

– Iser on The Reading Process

– Barthes on “Author” and “Text”

• Action Items for Next Time

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Discussion Questions

• Reddy “The Conduit Metaphor”– Atiba Phillips– Rachna Dhamija

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Discussion Questions (Reddy)

• Reddy “The Conduit Metaphor” (Atiba Phillips)– How does adherence to one framework or the other

affect the way we value media reviews or criticism; i.e. do we place more value on statements made by the “author” of the text / media, or are responses from the community of receivers more valuable?

– How do frame orientations affect our behavior, understandings of blame and possible avenues of resolution, when there is miscommunication or when communication breaks down?

– What implications does alternative models of communication have on the way we preserve culture?

– In person to person communication; is speech enough?

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Discussion Questions (Reddy)

• Reddy “The Conduit Metaphor” (Prof. Davis)– How can an implicit theory of communication

affect our analysis and design of multimedia information systems?

– What are some examples of multimedia information systems that embody the Conduit Metaphor or the Toolmakers’ Paradigm theory of communication? How might they be redesigned?

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Today’s Agenda

• Review of Last Time

• Why Study Communication Theory?

• Towards a New Understanding of

Communication

– Reddy on The Conduit Metaphor

– Iser on The Reading Process

– Barthes on “Author” and “Text”

• Action Items for Next Time

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Sign Up for Office Hours

• Tuesday, January 28 (This Week Only)– 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

• Thursday, January 30 (Regular Time)– 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

• 314 South Hall

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Readings for Next Time

• Wednesday 01/29– Ferdinand de Saussure: Course in General

Linguistics”