2/17/2020

Elements of communication and

their characteristics

communicator,
message,
channel,
treatment,
audience,
audience response
and
Feedback
1
 THE COMMUNICATOR/ SOURCE
the origin of the idea.
sender.
an individual or group
conceives the idea, prepares the message, selects the channel of
distribution and decides who the receiver will be.
Characteristics of a good communicator
He knows:
a)his objectives - has them specifically defined;
b)his audience - its needs, interests, abilities, predispositions;
c)his message- its content, validity, usefulness, importance;
d)channels that will reach the audience and their usefulness;
e)how to organize and treat his message;
f)his professional abilities and limitations.
 He is interested in:
a) his audience and its welfare;
b) his message and how it can help people;
c) the results of communication and their evaluation;
d) the communication process;
e) the communication channels - proper use and limitation;
f) how to improve his communication skill.

He prepares:
a)a plan for communication - a teaching plan;
b)Communication materials and equipment;
c)a plan for evaluation of results.
 He has skill in:
a) selecting messages;
b) treating messages;
c) expressing messages - verbal and written;
d) the selection and use of channels;
e) understanding his audience;
f) collecting evidence of results.

Functions of communication source

Selection of the useful and appropriate ideas (message) based on the
receiver’s attitudes, needs and other conditions.
Encoding of the message should be clear and effective for the Receiver.
Gets the information of all the other conditions belonging to the
communication process and to arrange them in such as way so that
communication process may be more effective.
Selection of correct communication channel and its proper utilization.
Correct evaluation of the response of communication process and on
this basis recommunicates.
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Qualities of communication source

The communication source should have the ability to select the message and the
proper encoding skill. From the point of extension education the communication skill
also include an extension worker’s ability to plan a communication strategy.
The communication source also should have the information about the receiver or
audience and the ability to engage them.
The knowledge of communication process and purpose.
The selection of the communication channels and the knowledge of their use.
The communication source should have the impartial knowledge of his skill as well as
his weakness.
The ability of evaluating the response.
Need of patience to listen to the message of others.
The communication source should have the skill to find out the causes of
communication loss and to minimize them.
Enough knowledge of the subject.

5
MESSAGE OR CONTENT:
Information a communicator wishes his audience to receive,
understand, accept and act upon.
may consist of statements of scientific facts about agriculture,
sanitation or nutrition, description of action being taken by
individuals, groups or committees, reasons why certain kinds of
action should be taken; or steps necessary in taking given kinds of
action.
They are the important content, sometimes referred to as
‘arguments’ ‘appeals’ and ‘stimuli’.
Many factors may affect the effectiveness of the message
regarding change behavior in any given situation
A good message must be:
1. In line with the objective to be attained;
2. Clear – understandable by the audience
3. In line with the mental, social, economic and physical capabilities
of the audience.
4. Significant – economically, socially or aesthetically to the needs,
interests and values of the audience
5. Specific – no irrelevant material;
6. Simply stated covering only one point at a time.
7. Accurate – Scientifically sound, factual and current;
8. Timely – especiallywhen seasonal factors are important and
issues current
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A good message must be:

9. Supported by factual material covering both sides of the

argument;
10. Appropriate to the channel selected
11. Appealing and attractive to the audience – having utility,
immediate use.
12. Applicable – audience can apply recommendation;
13. Adequate – Combining principle and practice in effective
proportion;
14. Manageable – can be handled by the communicator with high
professional skill and within the limits imposed by time.
15. Compatible: The message must be according to the traditions,
needs and desires of the audience.

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CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION
The sender and the receiver of messages must be connected or
‘tuned’ with each other. For this purpose, channels of
communication are necessary.
The channel is the medium through which a message travels from
sender to receiver.
May be mass media or interpersonal and depends on the message
to be conveyed, availability of channel, cost and effectiveness of
channel of distribution.
Channels are the physical bridges between the sender and the
receiver of messages and the avenues (street) between a
communicator and an audience on which messages travel to and
fro.
But channels are no good without careful direction or use in the
right way, at the right time, to do the right job for the right purpose
with the right audience, all in relation to the message.
Roger and Shoemaker have classified Channels as follows:
a. Interpersonal and Mass media channels:
Interpersonal channels - used for face-to-face communication
between two or more people,
Mass media - mechanical devices through which an individual or a
group can reach a relatively larger population in a shorter time. The
audience members may be physically separated.
b. Localite and Cosmopolite channels
Localite – communication of the same system.
Cosmopolite - communication between many cultures, anything
outside the system.
Localite channels originate within the social system of receiver,
cosmopolite channels have their origins outside his immediate social
system.
Interpersonal channels may be cosmopolite or localite depending
on the location of service but mass media channels are almost
always cosmopolite.
 Many obstructions can enter channels. These are often referred to as ‘noise’ -
that is some obstruction that prevents the message from being heard by or
carried over clearly to the audience.
‘Noise’ emerges from a wide range of sources and causes which are as follows;

1. Failure of a channel to reach the intended audience:

2. Failure on the part of a communicator to handle channels skillfully:

3. Failure to select channels appropriate to the objective of a

communicator:

4. Failure to use channels in accordance with the abilities of the audience:

5. Failure to avoid physical distraction:

6. Failure of an audience to listen or look carefully:
7. Failure to use enough channels in parallel:
8. Use of too many channels in a series:
 To overcome the problems, one should take the following account:
1.The specific objective of the message.
2.The nature of the message- degree of directness versus abstractness,
level of difficulty, scope, timing etc.
3.The audience - size, need, interest, knowledge of the subject etc.
4.Channels available that will reach the audience or parts of it
5.How channels can be combined and used in parallel.
6.How channels that must be used in a series can be reduced to the
minimum, and those used made effective without fail
7.Relative cost of channels in relation to anticipated effectiveness
8.Time available to communicator and audience
9.Extent of seeing, hearing or doing that is necessary to get the
message through
10.Cumulative effect or impact on the audience to promote action
 For e.g. Senior Extension officer originates a message he wishes to
communicate to a sizeable number of local cultivators. The series of
channels could be about as follows :
Senior officer communicates the message to the District Level Officer,
who in turn communicates it to the Village level Agriculture Extension
Officer, who in turn communicates it to a village leader, who in turn is
asked to communicate it to a number of local cultivators.
The use of such a series of channels raises two grave questions
(a)Did the message ever really reach the intended destination?
(b)Did it reach with the same content and intent as the original?
 The following two important principles emerge from this example:
(1)The more steps by which the communicator is removed from his
intended receiver, the greater are his chances of losing the proper
message
(2)When lines of communication get too long for assured communication
they can be improved in two primary ways
(a) by using additional channels in parallel and
(b) by eliminating some of the channels in the series.
Successful communicators prevent the blockage or ‘noise’ affecting
channels of communication that emerge from one or more of the
foregoing conditions.
TREATMENT OF MESSAGES
Since the subject matter of communication is theoretical and
intangible, its further passing requires use of certain symbols such
as words, actions or pictures etc. Conversion of subject matter into
these symbols
The way a message is handled to get the information across to an
audience.
It relates to the technique, or details of procedure, or manner of
performance essential to expertness in presenting messages.
Designing the methods for treating messages does not relate to
formulation of the message or to the selection of channels, but to
the technique employed for presentation within the situation
provided by a message and a channel.
 The purpose of treatment is to make the message clear,
understandable and realistic to the audience.
Three categories of basis useful for varying treatment.
A. Matters of general organization:
1)Repetition or frequency of mention of ideas and concepts
2)Contrast of ideas.(explain their meaning)
3)Chronological-compared to logical, compared to psychological.
4)Presenting one side compared to two sides of an issue.
5)Starting with strong arguments compared to saving him until the end
of presentation.
6)Inductive compared to deductive.(inductive is bottom up approach
and deductive is top down approach)
7)Proceeding from the general to the specific and vice versa.
8)Explicitly drawing conclusions(describes something that is very clear
and without vagueness or ambiguity) compared to leaving conclusions
implicit(understood but not describe) for the audience to draw.
B. Matters of speaking and acting:
1. Limit the scope of presentation to a few basic ideas and to the
time allotted. Too many ideas at one time are confusing.
2. Be yourself. You can’t be anyone else. Strive to be clear, not
clever.
3. Know the facts. Fuzziness means sure death to a message.
4. Don’t read your speech. People have more respect for a
communicator who is sure of his subject.
5. Know the audience. Each audience has its own personality. Be
responsive to it.
6. Avoid being condescending (arrogant).
 7. Decide on the dramatic effect desired. In addition to the content of
messages, a communicator should be concerned with ‘showmanship’.
Effective treatment requires sincerity, smoothness, enthusiasm, warmth,
flexibility and appropriateness of voice, gestures, movements and
tempo.
8. Use alternative communicators when appropriate, as in Group
discussions, panels, interviews, etc.
9. Remember that audience appeal is a psychological bridge to getting a
message delivered.
10. Quit on time. Communicators who stop when they are “finished” are
rewarded by audience goodwill.
Matters of symbol variation and devices for representing ideas:
1. Word symbols- speech
2. Real objects.
3. Models
4. Specimens
5. Photographs
6. Graphs
7. Charts
8. Motion pictures.
9. Slides 10. Drama.
11. Puppets 12. Songs.
13. Flash cards etc.
The foregoing list of suggested possibilities for message treatment can
be extended and the techniques used in an almost infinite number of
combinations. Communicators should be aware that treating messages
to achieve maximum audience impact is a highly professional task.
How to do it is not given in books. The task cannot be reduced to a
formula or recipe. Treatment is a creative task that has to be ‘tailor
made’ for each instance of communication
THE AUDIENCE / RECEIVER
An audience is the intended receiver of messages. It is the consumer of
messages.
It is the receiver who tries to understand the message in the best
possible manner in achieving the desired objectives.
Tries to convert the same in such a way so that he may extract its
meaning to his complete understanding.
It is the intended respondent in message- sending and the assumed to
be in a position to gain economically, socially or in other ways by
responding to the message in particular ways.
In good communication, the audience aimed at is already
identified by the communicator.
Two Types of Audiences:
❖Specialists
❖The general audience
The pay of in communication is dependent on what the
audience does in response to messages.
The more homogeneous an audience, the greater the chances
of successful communication.
Likewise, the more a communicator knows about his
audience and can pinpoint its characteristics the more likely
he is to make an impact.
In addition to knowing the identity of an audience and some of its
general characteristics, there are other somewhat more specified
aspects that help to clarify the exact nature of an audience and how
to reach it.
The following are some of these:
1.Communication channels established by the social organization.
2.The system of values held by the audience - what they think is
important.
3.Forces influencing group conformity-custom, tradition etc.
4.Individual personality factors susceptibility to change etc.
 5. Native and acquired abilities.
6. Educational, economic and social levels.
7. Pressure of occupational responsibility-how busy or concerned they
are.
8. People’s needs as they see them, and as the professional communicator
sees them.
9. Why the audience is in need of changed ways of thinking, feeling and
doing.
10. How the audience views the situation.
It is useful to a communicator to understand traits of an audience in
making his plan for communication.
It may be noted that the audience is not a passive recipient of message.
The individuals are rather selective in receiving, processing and
interpreting messages.

Selective Exposure.: Klapper (1960) suggested that people expose

themselves to messages selectively. There is a tendency for individuals to
expose themselves relatively more to those items of communication that
are in agreement with their ideas, beliefs, values etc.
 Selective perception: Regardless of exposure to communication,
an individual’s perception of a certain event, issue, person or place
could be influenced by one’s latent beliefs, attitudes, wants, needs
or other factors. Thus, two individuals exposed to the same
message could go away with different perceptions about it.
Selective retention: All information is not retained by the
individuals. People generally tend to retain that information in
which they have some interest and which they consider to be
important.
❖Recall of information is influenced by factors such as an
individual’s needs, wants, moods, perceptions and so on.
❖The social categories to which people belong, their individual
characteristics, and social relationships greatly influence their
acquisition and utilization of information.
Audience segmentation:

According to Rogers (1995), audience segmentation is a

communication strategy that consists of identifying certain sub
audiences within a total audience, and then conveying a special
message to each of these sub audiences. The strategy breaks down a
heterophilous audience into a series of relatively more homophilous
sub audiences, in which different communication channels or
messages are used with each sub audience.
AUDIENCE RESPONSE
This is the terminating element in communication applied to rural
development programs.
Response by an audience to messages received is in the form of some
kind of action to some degree, mentally or physically.
Action, therefore, should be viewed as a product, not as a process; it
should be dealt with as an end, not as a means.
These five elements - communicator, message, channel, treatment,
audience - are intended to be viewed as an organized scheme (means)
for attaining the desired action (end) on the part of an intended
audience.
Action taken by an intended audience that can be attributed to a given
communicative act by an extension worker may properly be assumed
to be a result of the degree to which these elements have been effective.
Until the desired action results, programs of change do not achieve
their most essential objective.
In evaluating effectiveness, therefore, the important criterion or
standard for judging the program is the nature and extent of action
taken by people who needed to act.
For, it is what the people do as a result of participation, not what the
program staff does that is of transcendent importance in programs of
change.
FEEDBACK:
Extension communication is never complete without feedback
information.
FEEDBACK means carrying some significant response of the
audience back to the communicator. .
Communication work is not an end in itself. The extension agent
should know what has happened to the audience after the message
has reached them.