Lecture 02: Communications Theory

Lecture 02: Communications Theory IS246Multimedia Information (FILM 240, Section 4) Prof. Marc Davis UC Berkeley SIMS Monday and Wednesday 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Spring 2003 http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/academics/courses/is246/s03/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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)?

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”

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

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

Toolmakers’ Paradigm

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)?

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

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)

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

Discussion Questions • Reddy “The Conduit Metaphor” • Atiba Phillips • Rachna Dhamija

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?

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?

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

Readings for Next Time • Wednesday 01/29 • Ferdinand de Saussure: Course in General Linguistics”

Lecture 02: Communications Theory