Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver introduced the first communication cycle model in 1949, which has been nicknamed 'the mother of models' as it incorporates a number of concepts including information source, message and transmitter.
According to this model, a message starts as an information source, which is conveyed through a transmitter and then sent to the receiver via a signal. However, the signal must go through sources of interference (noise) before it can reach the receiver. Lastly, the receiver has to transmit the message to its destination.
The advantages of the Shannon and Weaver model are its simplicity, generality and quantifiabllty. The main critique of this model is not only the way in which it completely over-simplifies communication but that it also misrepresents the nature of human interaction. Other weaknesses include its suggestion that we simply receive messages instead of bringing our own understanding to them, that what is meant by the sender may not be understood in the same way as the receiver and that it does not allow for any feedback.
Berlo's Model of Communication 9D: Berlo (1960) was hailed 'the simplest and most influential message-centered model of our time'. Essentially an adaption of the Shannon-Weaver Model it expanded by becoming cyclical and including non-verbal communication.
Other communication models include:
According to this model, a message starts as an information source, which is conveyed through a transmitter and then sent to the receiver via a signal. However, the signal must go through sources of interference (noise) before it can reach the receiver. Lastly, the receiver has to transmit the message to its destination.
The advantages of the Shannon and Weaver model are its simplicity, generality and quantifiabllty. The main critique of this model is not only the way in which it completely over-simplifies communication but that it also misrepresents the nature of human interaction. Other weaknesses include its suggestion that we simply receive messages instead of bringing our own understanding to them, that what is meant by the sender may not be understood in the same way as the receiver and that it does not allow for any feedback.
Berlo's Model of Communication 9D: Berlo (1960) was hailed 'the simplest and most influential message-centered model of our time'. Essentially an adaption of the Shannon-Weaver Model it expanded by becoming cyclical and including non-verbal communication.
Other communication models include:
- Aristotle's definition of rhetoric,
- Aristotle's model of proof,
- Bitzer's Rhetorical Situation,
- Schramm's Interactive Model,
- Dance's Helical Spiral,
- Westley and MacLean's Conceptual Model,
- Becker's Mosaic Model,
- Ruesch and Bateson,
- Barnlunds Transactional Model,
- Systematic model of communication,
- Brown's Holographic Model and a Fractal Model.
