Nets:ongoing, make tighter as you go,will holes always remain?

Lenses:provide focus-force us to focus on specific elements,we all focus differently, so do we lose the systematic element?

Maps:guide through unfamilar territory, doesn't always reflect changes/updates

Parts of Communication:Messages 

Messages are at the very core of communication study,

Communication theorists use the word text as a synonym for a message that can be studied, regardless of the medium

Theories deal specifically with messages

Communicator is usually making a conscious choice of message form and substance,

Indicates that the content and form of a text are usually constructed, invented, planned, crafted, constituted, selected, or adopted by the communicator

Communication is a relational process because it takes place between 2 or more people & affects the nature of the connections among those people,

The flow of communication is always in flux, never completely the same, and can only be described with reference to what went before and what is to come.

The effect of the message upon people who receive it,

If messages fails to stimulate any cognitive, emotional, or behavioral reaction, it seems pointless to refer to it as communication

The objective approach to theory

5 Pickard’s Research Hierarchy: #1

Qualitive vs. Quanitive

Qualitive:interpretive scholars use words,open ended interviews, focus groups, visual text, artifacts 

vs.

Quanitive: empirical-data collected through direct observation/expirment, appeal to numbers as they gather evidence to support their theories

Standards to Evaluate Objective Theory:#1 Explanation of Data

Standards to Evaluate Objective Theory:#2 Prediction of Future Events

A good objective theory is as simple as possible-no more complex than it has to be

*Albert Einstein-"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex....It takes a touch of genius-and a lot of courage-to move in the opposite direction"*

But relative simplicity doesn't necessarily mean easy to understand. Trained physicists admit they're still struggling to fully comprehend the theory of relativity. That theory is parimonious not because it's a no brainer, but because it doesn't carry the extraneous baggage rival theories carry as they try to explain why time stands still when you approach the speed of light.

A good objective theory is testable,

falsifiability:The requirement that a scientific theory must be stated in such a way that it can be tested and disproved if it is indeed wrong,

Unfortunately some theories are stated in such a way that makes it impossible to prove them false. They shy away from the put-up-or-shut-up standard-they aren't testable. That also means there's no way to show if they are true.

Over time a good objective theory is useful,

People facing the type of thorny social situations that the theory addresses should be able to benefit from its wisdom. This requirment is consistent with Lewin's claim that there is nothing as practical as a good theory.

Since objective theorists aim to mirror reality,

it makes sense for them to measure and report what they discover in precise numerical terms rather than in linguistic terms, which are open to interpretation,

More than other quantitative methods, objective theorists use experiments and surveys to test their predicitons.

Interpretive scholarship is good when it offers fresh insight into the human condition,

desire subjective understanding,

<http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-objective-and-subjective/>

...Researchers seek to gain new understanding by analyzing the activity that they regard as uniquely human-symbolic interaction,

the researchers hope to develop an understanding of local knowledge or members' unique rules for interaction,

rhetorical theory works best when it suggests universal patterns of symbol-using: "A powerful explanatory structure is what makes a work of humanistic scholarship live on through time,

A good interpretive theory brings people's values into the open,

the theorist actively seeks to acknowledge, identify, or unmask the ideology behind the message under scrutiny, interpretive theorists should also be willing to reveal their own commitments,

humanists usually place a premium on individual liberty,

scholar's drive for personal freedom extends to the peoplethey study

The way a theorists ideas can capture the imangination of a reader just as much as the wisdom and originality of the theory he or she has created,

As with any type of communication, both content and style make a difference.

Interpretive theorists have more room for creativity so aesthetic appeal becomes an issue,

clarity and artistry are two qualities needed to satisfy this aesthetic requirement,

A good interpretive theory often generates change, critical interpreters are reformers who can have an impact on society. They want to expose and publicly resist the ideology that premeates the accepted wisdom of a culture, to raise fundemental questions regarding contemporary social life, to foster reconsideration of that which is "taken for granted," and thereby to generate fresh alternatives for social action.

critical theorists tend to reject any notion of permanent truth or meaning. they see...religious and educational institutions as socially constructed by unjust communication practices that create or premeate gross imbalances of power. their aim is to unmask these communication practices in an attempt to stimulate change. to tradtional thinkers they look like angry kindergarteners knocking over other kids blocks but they are intentionally using theory to carve out a space where people without power can be heard

Interpretive scholars use words, study things in their natural setting, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meaning people bring to them.

*A focus on meaning and significance is consistent with the maxium that once hung on the wall of Einstein's Princeton University office:"Not everything than can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." *

Textual Analysis:use this term to refer to the intensive study of a single message grounded in a humanistic perspective

Ethnography: is not an experimental science in search of law, but an interpretive approach in search of meaning,theory of communication grounded in the meaning that people within a culture share. getting it right means seeing it from their point of view.

1) Socio-Psychological:

Cx as Interpersonal Interaction&Influence, truth is found through systematic observations-cause &effect relationships

2) Cybernetic: CX as system of info processing, more scientific but allows for humanistic wiggle room

3)Rhetorical: CX as artful public address, audience emotions are moved by power and beauty of languge(art, not science), Public address is < rules/force

4)Semiotic: CX as the proccess of sharing meaning through signs, meaning resides in ppl, theorists seek to explain&reduce misunderstanding created by ambiguous(morethan1meaning)symbols

5) Socio-Cultural: CX as the creation&enactment of social reality, language structures our perception of reality

6)Critical:CX as a reflective challenge of unjust discourse(speech), Theorists challenge blind confidence

7)Phenomnological:CX as the experience of self&others through dialogue, seeks to uunderstand self&others,focus on ppl's perceptions&interpretation

All traditions/Theorists Should:

*Advocate truthfulness, accuracy, honesty and reason (integrity is key)

*Accept responsibility for shot and long term consequences of our own communication & expect the same of others

* Strive to understand & respect other communicators before responding to their message