When we talk about theories, the first theory to discuss, is the basic transmission model.
This model reflects dominant thought on communication,
by proposing communication as a linear process that starts with a sender, creates a message
and somehow ends up with an audience, a receiver.
Lasswell, in 1948, made this model explicit.
To understand the process of communication, according to Lasswell, we need to consider
Who, says What, in which Channel, to Whom, and with what Effect
Of course, many things can go wrong in this process of communication
When I talk to someone and a car drives by, it might cause a distraction
or it's roaring engine might drown out my voice.
My conversation partner can have other things on his mind
and there are many other things that can cause a disruption of effective communication
It's important to note, by the way, that communication, in this linear way of looking at communication
is only effective when the desired effect is reached.
When the message succesfully reaches, and is correctly interpreted by the receiver.
That many things can distort a correct transmission becomes clear
in the transmission model, that Shannon and Weaver created in 1949.
This model of communication embodies five elements, like the model of Lasswell
The first element is Sender, which is obviously the person or persons, that create a message
Then comes the Message itself
Thirdly, the Channel that is used to send the message.
Another word for this channel is of course medium
and the different channels that exist are collectively named media.
The next element is, like in the Lasswell model, the Receiver.
And finally again, we see the Effect.
Here we clearly see that in each of these stages so-called 'Noise'
can disrupt the correct transmission.
In our field we define noise as
'Everything that can cause a disruption in the flow of communication'.
So, in our example, the car that passes by can create many forms of noise.
The sound of it's loud engine causes confusion because someone can't hear me correctly
or miss what I'm saying entirely. So, that's one form of noise.
Another form is the distraction that it creates for my partner
so he doesn't really pay attention to what I'm saying
and therefore misinterprets or forgets my message and the desired effect is not reached.
The important thing with these models is that they see communication as a linear process
and this in itself has led to an emphasis on effects.
We want to know if communication has a desired effect.
This is a very influential way of looking at communication.
It's also very different from another approach that we will explain further
in the next section of this MOOC.