More than words an introduction to communication (original) (raw)

Understanding Human Communication

1982

PART I: ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION 1. HUMAN COMMUNICATION: WHAT AND WHY 2. PERCEPTION, THE SELF AND COMMUNICATION 3. LANGUAGE 4. LISTENING 5. NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION PART II: INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION 6. UNDERSTANDING INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS 7. IMPROVING INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS PART III: COMMUNICATION IN GROUPS 8. THE NATURE OF GROUPS 9. SOLVING PROBLEMS IN GROUPS PART IV: PUBLIC COMMUNICATION 10. CHOOSING AND DEVELOPING A TOPIC 11. ORGANIZATION AND SUPPORT 12. PRESENTING YOUR MESSAGE 13. INFORMATIVE SPEAKING 14. PERSUASIVE SPEAKING APPENDIX A - INTERVIEWING APPENDIX B - MEDIATED COMMUNICATION

Introductory Text to MASS COMMUNICATION

2016

The Concept of Communication The word communication is a Latin word "communis" or "communicare", which means "to make common". Communication includes a lot of things, events and happenings. For example, meetings, conferences, are all examples of communication events. Newspapers, radio, video and television are all media of communication. Journalists, newsreaders, advertisers, public relations personnel, cameramen are all communication professionals. Similarly, communication can be broadly defined as the process by which elements of a societywhether as individuals or members of groups or organisationstransmit their intentions, desires and feelings about any matter to their fellows by means of symbols [3]. However, communication is not only human phenomenon, other species also communicate, the difference between humans and other creatures is that, human communication involves oral form or verbal symbols through the use of language [3]. Simply put, communication involves one person, or two people or more that come together in order to share or just to be together for a particular event like festival or family meeting. Dreaming, thinking, talking with someone, arguing during discussion, speaking in public, reading a newspaper and watching TV are all different kinds of communication that people engage in everyday life. From this explanation it suffices it to say that communication is far more than just an act or process but rather it is social and cultural, (meaning being together). It also can be within one person, two or more. Communication can be with oneself, God, nature and with other people in the environment. This may be in form of interaction, interchange, transaction, dialogue, and sharing of ideas. Communication is a process that enhances commonality. However, commonality cannot be achieved without elements of commonality and they include: language, common interest and common culture. Communication can be seen as the mechanism through which human relations exist and develop. Communication has been defined by different scholars to mean the process of transmitting or sending messages from one angle to another (sender-receiver). A few definitions of the term communication are given below: International Communication: this is a form of communication encounter among countries of the world. It involves diplomatic relations, corporate Public Relations, media relations, government-to-government relations in policies and programmes of mutual interest. Intercultural communication: this is related to international communication but, it specifically deals with cultural issues. It is a communication process that occurs both at local and international levels cutting across cultural boarders or boundaries. Verbal communication: is otherwise known as oral communication. It is a form of communication using spoken words. Verbal communication can further be divided into formal and informal. Formal verbal communication is spoken form of communication used in offices for official purposes and neither personal nor private. The formal verbal communication could be downward in form of orders from high-ranking officers to low-ranking officers. Or upward in form of request and fulfillment of orders from lowranking officers to high-ranking officers; while informal verbal communication occurs when we talk with our families and friends.

COM621: Communication Theory and Research

This class will expose students to the basic theoretical perspectives in organizational communication, and to a lesser degree, organizational theory and organizational behavior. The purpose of this course is to provide students a thorough grounding in organizational communication research. The readings are organized historically and integrate a survey of organizational communication research within a survey of organizational theory. This will enable students to understand the intellectual development of the interdisciplinary area of organizational theory and the evolution of organizational communication research. The class will focus on the change in theoretical perspectives over time as well as on new methodological approaches to the study of organizational communication. As the area of organizational communication continues to expand, it is important to examine the relationship of organizational communication studies to other related “disciplines” in light of historical events as well as alternative agendas in academic discourse. As part of the course, students will be exposed to both “classic” readings and current perspectives, as well as alternative/diverse methods of research. Because organizations and their problems have been much in the news (think ENRON, the White House, and Volvo) we will also have a focus on “organizational change.”

Qualitative Methods in Communication Research CMST 2B03 Fall 2009

Tutorials: T01 Mo 1:30 pm (UH/112) T02 Th 4:30 pm (UH/112) T03 Fr 10:30 am (UH/112) Course Description This course introduces you to key qualitative research methods used in Communicationsome taken from an anthropology tradition (e.g. ethnography) and the humanities (e.g. discourse analysis), whereas others come from a more social science perspective (e.g. content analysis) or are adopted into mainstream market research (e.g. focus groups). The emphasis is on the value of the "tools" of research. Which ones are useful or harmful within the context of your own critical understanding of interpersonal and mass mediated communication. We will relate this to real world applications by hearing directly from leading communication research professionals about their work and careers (e.g. guest lectures, case studies), and by engaging in a major international textual analysis project (Global Media Monitoring Project). There is a secondary emphasis on applying these research tools; you will learn how to use research tools by planning and executing individual and team-based communication research mini-projects. You will relate the qualitative tools you learn about to the quantitative tools discussed in the parallel course (Quantitative Methods in Communication Research), including other "ways of knowing" about communication phenomena, e.g. public opinion surveys. This class will combine lectures and tutorials. Much of the material learned in the lectures will be applied in the tutorials. In order to do well in this course you need to attend both, as well as participate in the on-line Moodle forums.