Shannon–Weaver model
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The Shannon–Weaver model is one of the first and most influential
models of communication Models of communication are simplified representations of the process of communication. Most models try to describe both verbal and non-verbal communication and often understand it as an exchange of messages. Their function is to give a compact ...
. It was initially published in the 1948 paper A Mathematical Theory of Communication and explains
communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
in terms of five basic components: a source, a transmitter, a
channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...
, a receiver, and a destination. The source produces the original message. The transmitter translates the message into a signal, which is sent using a channel. The receiver translates the signal back into the original message and makes it available to the destination. For a landline phone call, the person calling is the source. They use the telephone as a transmitter, which produces an electric signal that is sent through the wire as a channel. The person receiving the call is the destination and their telephone is the receiver. Shannon and Weaver distinguish three types of problems of communication: technical,
semantic Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...
, and effectiveness problems. They focus on the technical level, which concerns the problem of how to use a signal to accurately reproduce a message from one location to another location. The difficulty in this regard is that
noise Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...
may
distort In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal ...
the signal. They discuss redundancy as a solution to this problem: if the original message is redundant then the distortions can be detected, which makes it possible to reconstruct the source's original
intention Intentions are mental states in which the agent commits themselves to a course of action. Having the plan to visit the zoo tomorrow is an example of an intention. The action plan is the ''content'' of the intention while the commitment is the ''a ...
. The Shannon–Weaver model of communication has been very influential in various fields, including
communication theory Communication theory is a proposed description of communication phenomena, the relationships among them, a storyline describing these relationships, and an argument for these three elements. Communication theory provides a way of talking about a ...
and
information theory Information theory is the scientific study of the quantification (science), quantification, computer data storage, storage, and telecommunication, communication of information. The field was originally established by the works of Harry Nyquist a ...
. Many later theorists have built their own models on its insights. However, it is often criticized based on the claim that it oversimplifies communication. One common objection is that communication should not be understood as a one-way process but as a dynamic interaction of messages going back and forth between both participants. Another criticism rejects the idea that the message exists prior to the communication and argues instead that the encoding is itself a
creative Creative may refer to: *Creativity, phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is created * "Creative" (song), a 2008 song by Leon Jackson * Creative class, a proposed socioeconomic class * Creative destruction, an economic term * Creative dir ...
process that creates the content.


Overview and basic components

The Shannon–Weaver model is one of the earliest and most influential
models of communication Models of communication are simplified representations of the process of communication. Most models try to describe both verbal and non-verbal communication and often understand it as an exchange of messages. Their function is to give a compact ...
. It was initially published by
Claude Shannon Claude Elwood Shannon (April 30, 1916 – February 24, 2001) was an American people, American mathematician, electrical engineering, electrical engineer, and cryptography, cryptographer known as a "father of information theory". As a 21-year-o ...
in his 1948 paper A Mathematical Theory of Communication. The model was further developed together with
Warren Weaver Warren Weaver (July 17, 1894 – November 24, 1978) was an American scientist, mathematician, and science administrator. He is widely recognized as one of the pioneers of machine translation and as an important figure in creating support for scien ...
in their co-authored 1949 book ''The Mathematical Theory of Communication''. It aims to provide a formal representation of the basic elements and relations involved in the process of
communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
. The model consists of five basic components: a source, a transmitter, a
channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...
, a receiver, and a destination. The source of
information Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random ...
is usually a person and decides which message to send. The message can take various forms, such as a sequence of letters, sounds, or images. The transmitter is responsible for translating the message into a signal. To send the signal, a channel is required. Channels are ways of transmitting signals, like light, sound waves, radio waves, and electrical wires. The receiver performs the opposite function of the transmitter: it translates the signal back into a message and makes it available to the destination. The destination is the person for whom the message was intended. Shannon and Weaver focus on telephonic conversation as the paradigmatic case of how messages are produced and transmitted through a channel. But their model is intended as a general model that can be applied to any form of communication. For a regular face-to-face conversation, the person talking is the source, the mouth is the transmitter, the air is the channel transmitting the sound waves, the listener is the destination, and the ear is the receiver. In the case of a
landline A landline (land line, land-line, main line, home phone, fixed-line, and wireline) is a telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber telephone line for transmission, as distinguished from a mobile cellular network, which uses ...
phone call, the source is the person calling, the transmitter is their telephone, the channel is the wire, the receiver is another telephone and the destination is the person using the second telephone. To apply this model accurately to real-life cases, some of the components may have to be repeated. For the telephone call, for example, the mouth is also a transmitter before the telephone itself as a second transmitter.


Problems of communication

Shannon and Weaver identify and address problems in the study of communication at three basic levels: technical, semantic, and effectiveness problems (referred to as levels A, B, and C). Shannon and Weaver hold that models of communication should provide good responses to all three problems, ideally by showing how to make communication more accurate and efficient. The prime focus of their model is the technical level, which concerns the issue of how to accurately reproduce a message from one location to another location. For this problem, it is not relevant what meaning the message carries. By contrast, it is only relevant that the message can be distinguished from different possible messages that could have been sent instead of it. Semantic problems go beyond the symbols themselves and ask how they convey meaning. Shannon and Weaver assumed that the meaning is already contained in the message but many subsequent
communication theorists Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
have further problematized this point by including the influence of cultural factors and the context in their models. The effectiveness problem is based on the idea that the person sending the message has some goal in mind concerning how the person receiving the message is going to react. In this regard, effectivity means that the reaction matches the speaker's goal. The problem of effectivity concerns the question of how to achieve this. Many critics have rejected this aspect of Shannon and Weaver's theory since it seems to equate communication with manipulation or
propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
.


Noise and redundancy

To solve the technical problem at level A, it is necessary for the receiver to reconstruct the original message from the signal. However, various forms of
noise Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...
can interfere and distort it. Noise is not intended by the source and makes it harder for the receiver to reconstruct the source's
intention Intentions are mental states in which the agent commits themselves to a course of action. Having the plan to visit the zoo tomorrow is an example of an intention. The action plan is the ''content'' of the intention while the commitment is the ''a ...
found in the original message. Crackling sounds during a telephone call or
snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...
on a television screen are examples of noise. One way to solve this problem is to make the information in the message partially redundant. This way, distortions can often be identified and the original meaning can be reconstructed. A very basic form of redundancy is to repeat the same message several times. But redundancy can take various other forms as well. For example, the
English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
is redundant in the sense that many possible combinations of letters are meaningless. So the term "comming" does not have a distinct meaning. For this reason, it can be identified as a misspelling of the term "coming", thus revealing the source's original intention. Redundancy makes it easier to detect distortions but its drawback is that messages carry less information.


Influence and criticism

The Shannon–Weaver model of communication has been very influential and has inspired a lot of subsequent work in the field of
communication studies Communication studies or communication science is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differen ...
. Erik Hollnagel and David D. Woods even characterize it as the "mother of all models." It has been widely adopted in various other fields, including
information theory Information theory is the scientific study of the quantification (science), quantification, computer data storage, storage, and telecommunication, communication of information. The field was originally established by the works of Harry Nyquist a ...
, organizational analysis, and psychology. Many later theorists expanded this model by including additional elements in order to take into account other aspects of communication. For example,
Wilbur Schramm Wilbur Lang Schramm (August 5, 1907 – December 27, 1987) was a scholar and "authority on mass communications". He founded the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1935 and served as its first director until 1941. Schramm was hugely influential in establish ...
includes a feedback loop to understand communication as an interactive process and
George Gerbner George Gerbner (August 8, 1919 – December 24, 2005) was a professor of communication and the founder of cultivation theory. He taught at Temple University, Villanova University, and the University of Pennsylvania.Lent, John A. 1995.Interview with ...
emphasizes the relation between communication and the reality to which the communication refers. Some of these models, like Gerbner's, are equally universal in that they apply to any form of communication. Others apply to more specific areas. For example, Lasswell's model and Westley and MacLean's model are specifically formulated for
mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information ...
. Shannon's concepts were also popularized in
John Robinson Pierce John Robinson Pierce (March 27, 1910 – April 2, 2002), was an American engineer and author. He did extensive work concerning radio communication, microwave technology, computer music, psychoacoustics, and science fiction. Additionally to his ...
's ''Symbols, Signals, and Noise'', which introduces the topic to non-specialists. Many criticisms of the Shannon–Weaver model focus on its simplicity by pointing out that it leaves out vital aspects of communication. In this regard, it has been characterized as "inappropriate for analyzing social processes" and as a "misleading misrepresentation of the nature of human communication". A common objection is based on the fact that it is a linear transmission model: it conceptualizes communication as a one-way process going from a source to a destination. Against this approach, it is argued that communication is usually more interactive with messages and feedback going back and forth between the participants. This approach is implemented by non-linear transmission models, also termed interaction models. They include Wilbur
Schramm's model Schramm's model of communication is an early and influential model of communication. It was first published by Wilbur Schramm in 1954 and includes important innovations over previous models, such as the inclusion of a feedback loop and the discuss ...
, Frank Dance's helical-spiral model, a circular model developed by Lee Thayer, and the "sawtooth" model due to Paul Watzlawick, Janet Beavin, and Don Jackson. These approaches emphasize the dynamic nature of communication by showing how the process evolves as a multi-directional exchange of messages. Another criticism focuses on the fact that Shannon and Weaver understand the message as a form of preexisting information.
I. A. Richards Ivor Armstrong Richards CH (26 February 1893 – 7 September 1979), known as I. A. Richards, was an English educator, literary critic, poet, and rhetorician. His work contributed to the foundations of the New Criticism, a formalist movement ...
criticizes this approach for treating the message as a preestablished entity that is merely packaged by the transmitter and later unpackaged by the receiver. This outlook is characteristic of all transmission models. They contrast with constitutive models, which see meanings as "reflexively constructed, maintained, or negotiated in the act of communicating". Richards argues that the message does not exist before it is articulated. This means that the encoding is itself a
creative Creative may refer to: *Creativity, phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is created * "Creative" (song), a 2008 song by Leon Jackson * Creative class, a proposed socioeconomic class * Creative destruction, an economic term * Creative dir ...
process that creates the content. Before it, there is a need to articulate oneself but no precise pre-existing content. The communicative process may not just affect the meaning of the message but also the
social identities Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...
of the communicators, which are established and modified in the ongoing communicative process.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shannon-Weaver model Information theory Claude Shannon Communication Communication studies