The Three Interrelated Disciplines of Communication - Essay Example

Communication, Media, and Culture Introduction The present world is a textually mediated social world. Texts have an important role in everyday life, in the workplace and education. Knowing what people do with texts and what effect texts have on people isimportantin reasoning how social life is changing. This essay presents a summary of the theoretical framing provided by Literacy Studies and reviews the contribution made by detailed descriptive studies of literacies in different contexts. It considers the nature of the evidence that this work provides for research, practice, and policy. Literacy Studies offers a tip for all social research. It strongly emphasizes: how objects contribute in social interaction and how objects can have agency.The way people acquire knowledge by involvement in events and the vital role of networks and sponsors. Literacy is an essential lens for examining changing social practices, such as the effects of new technologies, the phenomenon of the overwork culture,and the growing audit culture. Pursuing how people’s lives are structured by engagement with texts of various kinds’ gives analytic purchase on these and other concepts. In reference to globalization, the examination of literacy practices issues a way of interrogating the complex changes in specific sites. Also, tracing connections between global and local practices, unfolding the exercise of power and documenting local forms of appropriation and resistance. Culture, media, and communication depend on each other for their existence (Golding and Murdock 2000, 70-92.). Significance and practical usefulness of the field of Communication, Media and Culture; Communication Communication is the key to a persons’ success, in the workplace, relationships, as a citizen, and across their lifetime (Morreale and Pearson 2000, 1-25). The ability to communicate comes from experience. Effective communication happens when a wanted effect is the outcome of intentional or unintentional information sharing, which translates between multiple entities and acted on in a desired way (Tulsky 2005, 359-365.). This effect ensures that messages do not distort during the communication process. Effective communication should produce the desired effect and maintain the force, with the ability to increase the effect of the message. Thus, effective communication serves the purpose for which sdesigned or intended. Possible purposes might be to invoke change, cause action, create understanding, inform or communicate a particular idea or point of view. When the craved effect is not achieved, factors such as barriers to communicating are explored, with the intention of discovering how communication has been ineffective (Craig 1999, 119-161). It is necessary to communicate well. It can help an individual comprehend what another person is saying. It also suggests that they can express their needs and concerns. When a person is seriously ill, there are many things that require to be discussed. Most of these discussions may be difficult and emotional.Appropriate communication is an essential tool in achieving productivity and maintaining healthy working relationships ta all levels of the organization. Employers who invest energy and time into delivering clear channels of communication quickly build up levels of trust amongst employees, causing to increases in productivity, output and more morale in general. Poor communication in the workplace leads to motiveless staff that may begin to question their confidence in their attributes and inevitably in the organization. Communicating online is considered as the “new kid of the block” in both educational and public policy situations, more so in the later. Because of this “newness” online communication need to prove itself through a multitude of qualitative research projects.There are undoubtedly many advantages from online communication that makes it a very valid modality for community-government relationship building (Wood and Smith 2004). The process of interpersonal communication is not regarded as phenomena that naturally happens but is seen as a process involving participants negotiating their role in the process, either willingly or unwillingly. The senders and receivers of the message are vital in communication. In face to face communication, the responsibility of the sender and receiver are not distinct since both parties communicate with each other. The communication either be through eye contact or general body language. There are, however, many other ways that people can communicate with others. For instance, the tone of their voice gives a clue of the emotions or the moods of the person talking. Media Media refer to the mass communication outlets or devices used for the storage and delivery of information or data. It is associated with communication media and the specialized communication business. Specialized communication business involves broadcasting, advertising, print media, and photography. Media dominate human’s private sphere as much as their working life. The proficient facilities for transfer, networking and multiplication are gaining greater influence on the natural environment of students and pupils; they are part of their reality, their world. Education should encourage the children and adolescents in their relations to the real world. The partake that the media have in our experience of the reality is steadily growing- a new attribute of reality has been created by emergence of highly developed technologies (Kellner 2003). Media experience by way of language, drawings, images, books, theater plays has significantly contributed to shaping human reality. The extent to which these media contribute to forming the reality of the world has, however, been virtually neglected in the teacher training system. The procedure of mass communication through mass media has made it possible to transmit similar message an infinite number of receivers over a geographical distance (Carey 2008). With this, the media open up chances for global communication, a cosmopolite outlook and the ongoing development of capitalism, even though they harbour the danger of greater manipulation. The fact changed by the media is a challenge and a chance at the same time. The significance of media education, policy knowledge, is a discourse not only on the effects, causes, and types of media communication (Baran and Engberg 2004).Also on the diverse interests which influence the decision and content of information and the method of its communication.Concerning the challenges posed by the electronic media, schools needs even more to confront the need to contribute to educating human beings who can communicate and arrive at an opinion of their own. Media education enables students and pupils to manage in a world about which they are informed by the media. They understand that media contribute significantly to their political opinion. They also recognize that the expansion of communication technologies provide more opportunities for human to evince themselves and take part in political life by exercising justice through the pressing of a button.Students and pupils learn how to use media to reach a critical review and thus to strengthen their competence for action. Media education raises awareness for the frequently biased demonstration of social and gender roles by the media. Students and pupils become sensitized to the issue of the degree to which the media become realistic in their presentation of every- day life situations. Even though the media cannot on their effect a change in the comprehending of the role of distribution prevailing in the society, students are still important in persuading and enlightening the public. By reflecting absolute values, they lead to preserving mainstream value conceptions and can either strengthen or weaken ideas, models, and views. Radio is an important instrumentally for the rapid spread of important messages and news. The news may be on new agricultural techniquesandideas as well as on health, nutrition, family planning and other cultural issues. Joined with other media, it can be used for training and transfer of technologies. It promotes dialog and debates on the vital subject of rural development as well as providing a program for the expression of the needs of rural women and their opinions and expectations. Radios enable women to raise their concerns and to speak about their hopes with other external partners such as policy-makers and development community cohesion and solidarity. Community involvement is necessary for the successful use of radio. Radio programs become effective when produced with audience participation in local languages and consideration for cultural traditions. Culture Culture simply refers to a set of shared values that a specific group of people holds. These values determine how people think and act and the kind of criteria by which they judge others. Cultural meanings have some behaviour as normal and right and others strange or wrong. Also, culture refers toaformofthe signs and human activity, which give significance to their activities. Culture being represented through the literature, art, costumes, customs and traditions of community (Kreuter and McClure 2004). Different cultures have an existence in various parts of the world. The natural physical environment affects the lifestyle of the people of that region, hence shaping their culture. The variety in the cultures around the world is as a result of the mindsets of people inhabiting different regions of the world (Lears 1985, 567-593.). The cultural beliefs of the community give it an identity of its own. A community attains a character and a personality, because of the culture of its people. Culture is shared by the members of the community. It is either learned or passed from the elder generations to the newer ones. For an efficient transfer of culture from one generation to another, it has to be interpreted into symbols. Art, language, and religion serve as the symbolic modes of transmission of cultural values between generations. Culture is a bond that links the people of the community together or region (Bonvillain 1993). The customs and traditions that the individuals of the community follow, the festivals they celebrate, the clothing they put on, the type of food they eat and the cultural values they adhere to bind them together. Culture is viewed as a system of social control, where people develop their standards and behavior. The cultural values constitute the founding principles of a person life. They affect an individuals philosophies and principles of life. They influence a person way of living and thus impact social life (Martin and Nakayama 2007). Conclusion Information and culture have become more abundant in contemporary society, reaching people through well-known mass media, such as newspaper and television. Also, information is reaching people through media applications such as the internet and computer games. The presence of media in the society has led to thegrowth in demand for academically trained media experts. The media experts have a firm understanding of, and who can react to composite problems and changes in the media sector in addition to media- related issues in the society at large. References lists Baran, S, J, McDonald, E, and J Engberg. Introduction to mass communication: Media literacy and culture. McGraw-Hill. 2004. Bonvillain, N. Language, culture, and communication: The meaning of messages. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. 1993. Carey, J, W. Communication as culture, revised edition: Essays on media and society. Routledge. 2008. Craig, R, T,. Communication theory as a field. Communication theory. 1999. Golding, P, and G Murdock. Culture, communications and political economy. Mass media and society,. 2000. Kellner, D. Media culture: Cultural studies, identity and politics between the modern and the post-modern. Routledge. 2003. Kreuter, M, W, and S, M McClure. The role of culture in health communication. Annu. Rev. Public Health. 2004. Lears, T, J. The concept of cultural hegemony: Problems and possibilities. The American Historical Review,. 1985. Martin, J. N, and T, K Nakayama. Intercultural communication in contexts. 2007. Morreale, S, P, Osborn, M, M, and J, C Pearson. Why communication is important: A rationale for the centrality of the study of communication. JACA-ANNANDALE. 2000. Tulsky, J. A. Beyond advance directives: importance of communication skills at the end of life. Jama. 294(3),. 2005. Valaskivi, K. Mapping media and communication research. 2007. Wood, A, F, and M. J Smith. Online communication: Linking technology, identity, & Routledge. 2004. Read More