Shannon and Weaver

I found Shannon and Weaver’s model of communication to be very interesting. After today’s class, it really makes you look at short hand and slang in another way. Originally if you hear people talking slang, you would think that they are uneducated. But it may be the opposite; maybe you are the one that is uneducated to their “language.” You just don’t understand where they are coming from.

One aspect of the model that I found a little confusing was the info source; I have always been taught that the info source was the sender, but Shannon and Weaver state that the source is all of the possible messages. In the English language words or sayings are often broken down in code. This is so only selective people can receive the message. Think of when you were little and if your parents wanted to swear in front of you with out you knowing, they would say S.O.B. You not knowing what it meant were unable to receive the message. The other day I was working at a fashion trade show called coterie and one of the buyers said that is so BBM, when I asked her what it meant, she said it was “confidential.” I wondered if they had a secret language to communicate if they agreed on a certain outfit or not? A lot of things play a part in setting codes; culture for example, has a huge impact on setting codes. If some one says that is so Fab-5, you know what they are talking about.

With making of new technology on the rise American are constantly finding new ways to send shorter messages. When pagers came out, you could page someone I love you simply by putting 143, for instant messenger it ily. We are even coming out with ways to sound out sounds that aren't even words like pfff, and mwah and the funny thing is when you write it people know what you are talking about.

Shannon and Weaver's model didn't account for feedback, I wondered how do they know if the message was received correctly, if at all? One part we talked about in class that I've never really thought about is redundancy. I thought it was interesting how Gilbert said, "we wouldn't be able to decipher a message if the message was all new. We have to have some familiarity to figure it out." That is probably why it is so hard to learn a new language when you are older, is because there is not familiarity. But as for a child, they aren't familiar with anything yet, so it's easier to teach them.