lesson b. comm model-shannon and weaver

8/8/2019 Lesson B. Comm Model-Shannon and Weaver

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The Shannon andThe Shannon and

Weaver ModelWeaver Model


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ProponentsProponents

Claude ElwoodShannon Warren Weaver


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Background: ShannonBackground: Shannon

y Engineer for the Bell Telephone Company

y

He designed the most influential of allearly communication models.

y Goal: to formulate a theory to guide theefforts of engineers in finding the most

efficient way of transmitting electricalsignals from one location to another(Shannon and Weaver, 1949).


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y Later He introduced a mechanism in the

receiver which corrected for differencesbetween the transmitted and receivedsignal; this monitoring or correctingmechanism was the forerunner of the now

widely used concept of feedback(information which a communicator gainsfrom others in response to his own verbalbehavior).


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Background: WeaverBackground: Weaver

y American scientist

y

Weaver's chief researches were in theproblems of communication in science andin the mathematical theory of probability.

y The Shannon-Weaver Mathematical

Model, 1949


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History of the ModelHistory of the Model

y Developed during the WW2 in the Bell

TelephoneLaboratories in the US

y Main concern: to work out a way in whichthe channels in communication could beused most efficiently

y Devised originally as a means ofdescribing electronic communication foruse in connection with engineeringproblems.


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ShannonShannon Weaver ModelWeaver Model

y Adopted into social science fields

y Also known as Shannon theory orinformation theory

y Often referred to as transmission modelsof communication


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The Shannon and Weaver ModelThe Shannon and Weaver Model


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Information SourceInformation Source

y In a general sense,the human brainmay be thought ofas the source of allthe messages wesend

y The origin of themessage


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MessageMessage

y Idea, concept,emotion, desire, orfeeling which a

source desires totransmit to adestination.


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Transmitter (Encoder)Transmitter (Encoder)

y Is the vocalmechanism of thesender

y Translate thesenders purposesinto a message


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NoiseNoise

y May occur anywherealong the

communication liney May be physical,

physiological, orpsychological in nature

y

Examples: annoyingvocal habits of thespeaker, improperarticulation, and lackof adequate projection

of voice, physicalnoise


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Receiver (Decoder)Receiver (Decoder)

y Somebody at theother end of thechannel who

receives themessage


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CriticismsCriticisms

Negative Points:

y

Simplistic; Static; they freeze the processat one point, they cannot portray changesand interactions

y Technologically biased

y Linear; looks at communication at a one-way process

y The message is seen as relativelyunproblematic


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y Mortensen: Shannon and Weaver wereconcerned only with technical problems

associated with the selection andarrangement of discrete units ofinformationin short, with purely formalmatters, not content. Hence, their modeldoes not apply to semantic or pragmaticdimensions of language.

y Roszak points out, Shannons model has nomechanism for distinguishing important ideasfrom pure non-sense.


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Positive PointsPositive Points

y Initially to differentiate noise from

information-carrying signalsy Breaks down and analyzes the relations

and efficiency of each component

y One of the most widely used and most

easily understood attempts to present thebasic pattern of human communication


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y The concepts of this model became staples incommunication research:

1. Entropy-the measure of uncertainty in asystem.

2. Redundancy-the degree to whichinformation is not unique in the system.

3. Noise-the measure of information not

related to the message.4. Channel Capacity-the measure of the

maximum amount of information a channelcan carry.

lesson b. comm model-shannon and weaver

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