Shannon-Weaver Model

Communication Theory, Shannon, Weaver

Original Text:

• A mathematical theory of communication by Shannon
  • It says something like “These semantic aspects of communication are irrelevant to the engineering problem” (blu3mo)
• There should be a joint work by Weaver and Shannon, but I can’t find the PDF
• RECENT CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MATHEMATICAL THEORY OF COMMUNICATION by Weaver Related Works:
• A Conceptual Foundation for the Shannon-Weaver Model of Communication
• SHANNON AND WEAVER: Unravelling the Paradox of Information
• A new communication paradigm: from bit accuracy to semantic fidelity
  • Related to semantic communication
• Design as communication: exploring the validity and utility of relating intention to interpretation
  • This approach seems useful
• A medium-centered model of communication
  • Deals with a model of communication considering meaning

Wikipedia:

• Shannon and Weaver classify communication problems into three types: technical, semantic, and effectiveness issues. They focus on the technical level, which is about the problem of accurately reproducing messages from one place to another using signals.

  • I want to refer to this level classification (blu3mo)
  • Well, the focus is on Level A, right?

This model was first presented by Claude Shannon in his 1948 paper “A Mathematical Theory of Communication.” It further developed in the book “The Mathematical Theory of Communication,” which was co-authored by Warren Weaver in 1949.

• Same title~ (blu3mo)

  • RECENT CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MATHEMATICAL THEORY OF COMMUNICATION

This model aims to provide a formal representation of the basic elements involved in the communication process and their relationships.

In a typical face-to-face conversation, the speaker is the source, the mouth is the transmitter, the air carries the sound waves as the channel, the listener is the destination, and the ear is the receiver. In the case of a landline phone call, the source is the person making the call, the transmitter is their phone, the channel is the wire, the receiver is another phone, and the destination is the person using the second phone.

• Concrete examples, I see (blu3mo)

• What are the counter-extensions of this?

  • Semantic issues go beyond the symbols themselves and question how meaning is conveyed. Shannon and Weaver assumed that meaning is already contained in the message, but many communication theorists have further complicated this by including cultural factors and contextual influences in the model.

    • Shannon’s assumption is here
    • Also mentioned in Information Theory is the pseudo-objectivity of symbol-meaning correspondence

  • For example, Wilbur Schram includes feedback loops to understand communication as an interactive process.

  • George Gerbner emphasizes the relationship between communication and the reality it refers to. Some of these models, like Gerbner’s, are universal and can be applied to all forms of communication.

• Rebuttals

  • A common criticism is based on the fact that it is a linear transmission model: it conceptualizes communication as a one-way process from the information source to the destination. It is argued that communication is usually more interactive, involving messages and feedback between participants.

    • While considering interactive aspects, this model is encompassed within it.
      • Just a different scope

  • Another critique focuses on Shannon and Weaver understanding messages as a form of existing information.

    • This critique seems more valid.

    • They see meaning as “constructed, sustained, and negotiated reflexively within the act of communication,” contrasting with a constitutive model.

A Primer on Communication Studies