When we define human communication loosely to mean the communication that takes place among human beings, then we can include mass communications, which are the interactions among human beings that are conducted via mass media. But when we define human communication narrowly, we can say it is all non-mediated communication. In other words, a narrow definition of human communication is that which does not involve intervening mass media between the human persons interacting with one another. These sorts of communication include: intrapersonal (or non-social) communication, such as introspection or the many ways the brain coordinates with the central nervous system and the rest of the human body. Also, interpersonal communication, such as takes place in dyads (communications among two people) or in small group situations, or even in public forums, such as rallies, public speaking events and so forth. Included herein is organizational communication, a significant feature of studies in human communication. We also get to talk about communication theory and research. These are the sorts of topics I dealt with during my master's degree program in communication at Wichita State.
To begin with, dyadic communication is face-to-face, intimate, communication among two people, such as a husband and wife discussing family issues, or a set of lovers having a heart-to-heart. Any communication situation involving two people is dyadic. Everyday conversations between say, women returning from the market or boys from soccer practice, or girls from volleyball tryouts - these are all dyadic communication situations. They involve verbal and nonverbal cues, and they are sender-receiver conducted. The change of roles (sending and receiving) is more instantaneous than in most communications. Interpersonal communication situations in any case also involve small groups, such as club meetings, or conferences and symposia, etc. At these small group gatherings of three to say, fifty people, there is a lesser degree of intimacy among sender-receiver participants, and feedback may not be as instantaneous as in the case with dyadic communication. There is in any case the use of verbal and nonverbal cues to facilitate communication. Interpersonal communication situations also include public interaction, such as rallies, public speaking events and the like. Here, the main speaker is somewhat removed from the large crowd of fifty-one to even a million people gathered at an arena. The speaker uses a microphone and loud speakers. The level of intimacy is lesser than in the small group situation, and even though there are nonverbal as well as verbal cues, reliance is had more on verbal than nonverbal cues.
We must not in any case confuse public communication with mass communication. A public address system such as microphones and loudspeakers are not mass media. Public address systems are simply augmentation for the speaker's voice at a public communication situation. No matter how large the audience of a public communication event is if no medium of mass communication is used, it is not mass communication. Hence, the word, mass, does not necessarily mean the number of people, but the fact that the communication was conducted via a mass medium, such as a book, a newspaper, a magazine, an almanac; or a radio, a television, a film or the Internet. And so, a single boy reading a book alone in his room is engaged in mass communication, while a man talking to one hundred thousand people with only a microphone is not engaged in mass communication. The things with mass communication that set it apart from public and other interpersonal communications is that the medium of communication used, be it print or broadcast, enables the message encoded therein to be communicated in a different space and a different time. For example, Mr. A writes a book or a newspaper article in Ontario on March 26, 1957, and it is read by someone in Ouagadougou on August 3, 2013. Public communication cannot accomplish such a feat. To receive the message of a public communication event, you have to be there at the venue to listen to the voice of the speaker.
Another thing about mass media one must note is that mass media are institutional affairs. Mass media are collaborative situations. Think of a newspaper for example: we have the reporter, the editor, the publisher and so forth; in a radio or television, we have the editor, the caster, the reporter, and so forth. Even a book: we have the writer, the editor, the publisher and so forth. In mass media operations, several people come together and assume different roles in the production of mass communication. Each of these people is called a "gatekeeper." Gatekeeper is one of the jargon of communication studies. A gatekeeper is someone who cuts out, adds to or reorganizes mass communication content. So for example a reporter gets a news story. He or she brings it into the newsroom. A copy editor goes through it - such editor may cut out, add to, or reorganize it. It then goes to the layout editor. Because of space constraints, the layout editor may cut out, add to, or reorganize the content. It then gets to a sub editor, and then the editor, who also has to worry about the editorial character or personality of the paper, and in that case cuts, or adds or changes the content, and then the publisher, and so forth. It's the same with books and electronic contents as well. Mass communication is collaborative and institutional.
Interpersonal communication on the other hand is more personal. But again, that does not mean that mass communication may not be taking place at the same time say, public communication is. If you attend a rally for example and monitors are provided at the back for the crowd that cannot see the speaker; the people in the front, who do not see the monitor, are engaged in public communication, while those that see the monitor at the back and hear the speaker through the monitor are also engaged in mass communication (in addition to public communication). Also, recall the lone fellow reading a book (who by that token is engaged in mass communication); if he or she is also talking with a friend or friends at the same time, that fellow is engaged in both mass communication (reading the book) and interpersonal communication. One significant aspect of human communication in any case, as we have said, is organizational communication. This is the sort of communication that takes place in organizations, be they businesses or other kinds of organizations.
In organizational communications, we speak of paradigms of communication, such as horizontal and vertical communications. Horizontal communications take place from employee to employee, and are more informal and social. Vertical communications on the other hand take place from employer to employee and are more formal and less social. Vertical communication events include: promotions, assignment of tasks within the organization; termination of contracts, and so forth. Horizontal communications on the other hand include: a co-worker inviting one over after work for a game of Ping-Pong, or a co-worker hosting a get-together after work hours for his or her colleagues. Other paradigms in organizational communications include: network and linear paradigms; the former which are more compatible with horizontal communications, and the latter which are more compatible with vertical ones. Various theories arising from research have been advanced with regard to organizational communication behavior, and many of them are borrowed from the fields of sociology and social psychology, such as the X, the Y, and the Z paradigms of organizational behavior. A few have also been borrowed from economics, such as studies about workplace productivity and personnel relations, as well as public relations. Share- and stake-holder relations are also very important aspects of organizational communications, even though Public Relations, since Ivy Lee, has become in itself a burgeoning field of study.
Communication is so much fun. We'll continue to talk about communication for the next few posts.
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