Media and Communication Technology Chapter Notes | Home Science for Class 11 - Humanities/Arts PDF Download

Communication and Communication Technology

• Communication is fundamental for human survival, existing since the inception of life on earth.
• Modern times have seen rapid advancements in communication technologies, introducing new methods and gadgets weekly.
• Some communication technologies gain popularity due to cost-effectiveness and utility, sustaining over time.
• Media and communication significantly impact adolescents, enhancing the quality of daily life.

What Is Communication?

• Communication involves thinking, observing, understanding, analyzing, sharing, and transmitting feelings through various mediums in diverse settings.
• It encompasses seeing, watching, listening, hearing, and exchanging ideas, thoughts, experiences, facts, knowledge, impressions, moments, and emotions with oneself or others.
• The term "communication" derives from the Latin word "communis," meaning common, emphasizing shared understanding.
• Effective communication requires a conscious effort to create a shared understanding of the message’s intended meaning between the communicator and receiver.
• The communication process is continuous, permeating all areas of social life, including home, school, community, and beyond.

Classification of Communication

Classification Based on the Type of Interaction

• One-way communication involves the receiver receiving information without immediate reciprocation, e.g., speeches, lectures, sermons, radio music, TV programs, or internet searches.
• Two-way communication occurs between two or more parties who exchange ideas, thoughts, or information, e.g., mobile phone conversations, discussions with family, or internet chatting.
• An example of two-way communication is a baby crying to signal hunger, prompting the mother to feed them, ensuring the baby’s survival.

Classification Based on the Levels of Communication

• Intra-personal communication is an internal mental process of observing, analyzing, and drawing conclusions about one’s past, present, and future behavior, e.g., mental rehearsal before an interview.
• Inter-personal communication involves exchanging ideas with one or more people face-to-face, using body movements, facial expressions, gestures, postures, written text, or verbal modes, e.g., discussing study difficulties with a friend or participating in a panel discussion.
• Inter-personal communication is highly effective due to proximity and direct contact, facilitating persuasion, motivation, and immediate feedback.
• Group communication is direct and personal, involving more than two people, fostering participatory decision-making, self-expression, socialization, motivation, and recreation, often enhanced by audio-visual aids.
• Mass communication uses mechanical devices to multiply and disseminate messages to large, heterogeneous, anonymous audiences spread over vast areas, e.g., radio, TV, newspapers, and magazines, with slow, cumulative, and delayed feedback.
• Intra-organisational communication occurs within structured organizational settings, with two-way flow at the same hierarchical level and one-way across levels to achieve common goals.
• Inter-organisational communication involves systems developed by one organization to coordinate with others, e.g., international agencies providing technical and financial support, with administrative support from central and state governments.
• In both intra- and inter-organisational communication, human beings, not departments or organizations, are the communicators, making understanding human factors crucial.

Classification Based on the Means or Modes of Communication

• Verbal communication uses auditory means like speaking, singing, or tone of voice, with individuals spending about 70% of active time in verbal communication (listening, speaking, reading aloud).
• Non-verbal communication includes gestures, facial expressions, posture, eye contact, touch, para-language, writing, clothing, hairstyles, architecture, symbols, and sign language, e.g., smoke signals used by some tribal communities.

Classification Based on the Involvement of Number of Human Senses

• Involving more senses enhances understanding and retention, making communication more effective and memorable.
• People retain 10% of what they read, 20-25% of what they hear, 30-35% of what they see, 50% or more of what they see and hear, and 90% or more of what they see, hear, and do.
• Audio communication includes radio, audio recordings, CD players, lectures, and landline or mobile phones.
• Visual communication includes symbols, printed materials, charts, and posters.
• Audio-visual communication includes television, video films, multimedia, and the internet.

How Does Communication Take Place?

• Communication is the process of transferring information from a sender to a receiver through a medium, ensuring the information is correctly, clearly, and completely understood.
• It involves flexibility in exchanging information and incorporates audience feedback for further planning, similar to market surveys before product launches.

The Process of Communication

• The communication process follows a sequence: who says what, to whom, when, in what manner, under what circumstances, and with what effect.
• The SMCRE model outlines six elements for effective communication: Source, Message, Channel, Receiver, Effect (feedback).
• The Source is the initiator of communication, responsible for ensuring the message is interpreted correctly and elicits the desired response, e.g., teachers, parents, friends, or indigenous knowledge holders.
• The Message is the content or information intended for the receiver to accept or act upon, which should be simple, appealing, clear, specific, authentic, timely, and appropriate for the channel and receiver.
• The Channel is the medium through which information flows, with face-to-face and word-of-mouth being the simplest and most effective, though mass media and multimedia are increasingly used.
• Channels include inter-personal (individuals, groups) and mass media (satellite, wireless, sound waves).
• The Receiver is the intended audience, which could be individuals or groups, with homogeneous groups increasing the likelihood of successful communication.
• The Effect (feedback) completes the communication cycle, occurring when the response matches expectations, or prompting message recasting if the desired response is not achieved, e.g., teacher questions, reader letters, or TV ratings.

What Is Media?

• Media influences individuals through various forms like radio, television, advertisements, films, newspapers, speeches, classroom instructions, complaints, or online shopping.
• Media is the means of communication, using various methods to disseminate and share ideas, thoughts, feelings, innovations, and experiences.
• Air acts as a medium for sound transmission, as sound cannot travel in a vacuum.
• Mass media uses modern technology to reach heterogeneous, anonymous, large audiences but is not synonymous with technology alone.
• Media includes satellite transmission, computer, and wireless technologies, beyond just radio and TV.

Media Classification and Functions

Traditional Media

• Traditional media, such as fairs and radio, remain vital for rural extension work, especially in remote areas.
• Inter-personal communication is the most used and effective traditional medium in rural settings.
• Examples include puppetry, folk dances, folk theatre, oral literature, fairs, festivals, rituals, symbols, and print media like charts, posters, newspapers, and local publications.
• Folk theatre includes Jatra (Bengal), Ramleela, Nautanki (Uttar Pradesh), Bidesia (Bihar), Tamasha (Maharashtra), Yakshagana, Dashavatar (Karnataka), and Bhavai (Gujarat).
• Oral literature and musical forms include Baul, Bhatiali (Bengal), Sna, Dadaria (Madhya Pradesh), Duha, Garba (Gujarat), Chakri (Kashmir), Bhangra, Gidda (Punjab), Kajri, Chaiti, Allha (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar), Powda, Lavni (Maharashtra), Bihu (Assam), and Mand, Panihari, Charans, Bhaatt songs (Rajasthan).
• Drum festivals with rhythmic beats, dance, and songs are common in North-eastern and tribal communities.
• Puppetry forms include string puppets (Sutradharika) in Rajasthan and Gujarat, and shadow puppets (Chhaya Putli) in southern India.
• Festivals, fairs, social rituals, ceremonies, and yatras convey messages, expressions, feelings, and traditions across diverse communities.

Modern Media

• Modern technology has expanded communication media, with innovations like mobile phones improving broadcast quality and capacity.
• Compact equipment sizes enhance usability in rural and remote areas, increasing modern media’s reach.
• Computers and internet access have ushered in a new era of communication media.
• Examples include radio, satellite television, modern print media, films, audio cassettes, compact disks, cable, wireless technology, mobile phones, video films, and video conferencing.
• Traditional media alone are insufficient for modern audiences, prompting the popularization of new media technologies.

Functions of Media

• Information: Media facilitates information provision and exchange, with information being a source of power, through radio, television, magazines, and newspapers.
• Persuasion/Motivation: Media persuades audiences to accept ideas by understanding their psychology and socio-cultural background.
• Entertainment: Media offers diverse entertainment options, from folk media to Direct to Home (DTH) telecasts, making learning engaging for educational purposes.
• Interpretation: Pictographic presentations, facts, and figures simplify complex concepts, e.g., maps or globes aid geographical understanding compared to text alone.
• Transmission of Values: Media fosters a healthy society by transmitting wholesome values, e.g., using puppetry or cartoons to teach values through stories.
• Education or Training: Media in local languages addressing local issues enriches teaching-learning, using interactive videos, audio cassettes, and printed materials.
• Coordination: Modern interactive technologies reduce the importance of physical proximity, enabling coordination of large projects across vast areas.
• Behavioural Change: Media drives extension education in health, literacy, environmental issues, and empowerment, transmitting messages that lead to behavioral changes.
• Development: Media acts as a catalyst for national development, mediating between specialists and laypersons, accelerating progress and connecting people globally.

What Is Communication Technology?

• The global communication landscape is undergoing a revolution, with technologies rapidly evolving and becoming obsolete quickly.
• People demand instant access to vast amounts of information, facilitated by traditional and modern mediums.
• Communication technology plays a key role in making information easily available and accessible.
• Different technologies are used across various settings, including rural, urban, and tribal areas.
• An example is Pij village in Gujarat, which acquired India’s first TV transmitter, broadcasting local and national programs via satellite.

Classification of Communication Technologies

• Cable-based technologies are cheaper and less complex, e.g., landline telephones or personal computers without internet.
• Wireless technologies require less infrastructure but are costlier, e.g., radio, microwave, satellite wireless telephony, and Bluetooth technology in mobile phones and computers.

Radio

• Radio reaches a universal audience across geographical, income, educational, age, sex, and religious divides.
• It overcomes time and space barriers through on-the-spot or simulated broadcasts.
• Small-sized transistors enable communication in remote areas, enhancing accessibility.

Television

• Introduced in India in 1959, television aimed to promote education and rural development.
• Programs use techniques like visual magnification, sound amplification, superimposition, split screens, fading, and zooming to enhance effectiveness and viewer impact.

Modern Communication Technologies

• The list of modern communication technologies is extensive, with frequent innovations enhancing existing systems.
• Micro Computers are classified by power, speed, memory, and interconnectivity into mainframes, mini computers, and micro-computers (using microchip technology).
• Micro-computers support extension work by processing data, record-keeping, accounting, storing case studies, and publishing information cost-effectively.
• Linked computers enable global information sourcing.
• Bluetooth Technology is a low-cost, short-range radio frequency link transmitting voice and data at 1 Mbps, faster than parallel/serial ports, used in mobile phones, headsets, and car kits.
• Video Text (view-data) is an electronic text service from a central computer to home TVs via telephone or cable, allowing interactive data access.
• Electronic Mail (E-mail) electronically transmits messages between computers, stored until retrieved, using modems and telephone connections.
• Interactive Video combines computer and video, using multimedia (text, photos, video, audio) with user responses determining the content path.
• Teleconferencing enables interactive group communication among geographically dispersed participants, eliminating the need for travel.