Models of communication

Models of communication are conceptual models used to explain the human communication process. The first major model for communication was developed in 1948 by Claude Elwood Shannon and published with an introduction by Warren Weaver for Bell Laboratories. Following the basic concept, communication is the process of sending and receiving messages or transferring information from one part (sender) to another (receiver). Models of communication are conceptual models used to explain the human communication process. The first major model for communication was developed in 1948 by Claude Elwood Shannon and published with an introduction by Warren Weaver for Bell Laboratories. Following the basic concept, communication is the process of sending and receiving messages or transferring information from one part (sender) to another (receiver). In 1960, David Berlo expanded the linear transmission model with the Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver(SMCR) Model of Communication. Later, Wilbur Schramm introduced a model that identified multiple variables in communication which includes the transmitter, encoding, media, decoding, and receiver. Elwood Shannon and Warren Weaver were engineers who worked for Bell Telephone Labs in the United States. Their goal was to ensure that telephone cables and radio waves worked at maximum efficiency. Therefore, they developed the Shannon-Weaver model, which expanded a mathematical theory of communication. The Shannon–Weaver model, developed in 1949, is referred to as the 'mother of all models' and is widely accepted as a main initial model for Communication Studies. The Shannon-Weaver model was designed to mirror the functioning of radio and telephone technology. The initial model consisted of four primary parts: sender, message, channel, and receiver. The sender was the part of a telephone a person speaks into, the channel was the telephone itself, and the receiver was the part of the phone through which one can hear the sender on the other end of the line. Shannon and Weaver recognized that static or background sounds may interfere with a telephone conversation; they referred to this as noise. Certain types of background sounds can also indicate the absence of a signal. Shannon and Weaver's original model contains five elements: information source, transmitter, channel, receiver, and destination. The information source is where the information is stored. In order to send the information, the message is encoded into signals, so it can travel to its destination. After the message is encoded, it goes through the channel which the signals are adapted for the transmission. In addition, the channel carries any noise or interference that might lead to the signal receiving different information from the source. After the channel, the message arrives in the receiver and is reconstructed (decoded) from the signal before finally arriving at its destination. In a simple model, often referred to as the transmission model or standard view of communication, information or content (e.g. a message in natural language) is sent in some form (as spoken language) from an emissor/ sender/ encoder to a destination/ receiver/ decoder. According to this common communication-related conception, communication is viewed as a means of sending and receiving information. The strengths of this model are its simplicity, generality, and quantifiability. The mathematicians Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver structured this model on the basis of the following elements: