Lecture 02 Communications Theory IS 246 Multimedia Information

Today’s Agenda • Review of Last Time • Why Study Communication Theory? • Towards

The Media Problem • Vastly more media will be produced • Without ways to

Goals of the Course • Acquire theoretical and practical foundations to analyze, design, and

Course Overview • Course phases – Theoretical and practical foundations – Current issues and

Course Materials • Purchase Course Reader at Copy Central on Bancroft – Course Readers

Communication Theory • Encompasses a vast array of disciplines – Mass communications, literary and

Why Study Communication Theory? • Our understanding of what, how, and why we communicate

Etymology of “Communication” • Communication - c. 1384, from O. Fr. communicacion, from L.

What and How Do We Communicate? • What “gifts” do we give each other?

Beyond the Conduit Metaphor • Reddy – Identification of the Conduit Metaphor – Suggestion

The Conduit Metaphor • Language functions like a conduit, transferring thoughts bodily from one

Conduit Metaphor: Minor Frameworks • Thoughts and feelings are ejected by speaking or writing

Toolmakers’ Paradigm IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 18

Semantic Pathology • Semantic Pathology – “Whenever two or more incompatible senses capable of

Iser on the Literary Work • Literary work has two poles – Artistic •

Iser on the Reading Process • Phenomenology of reading process similar to phenomenology of

Roland Barthes • Death of the Author – Who is the “I” that writes?

Discussion Questions (Reddy) • Ryan Shaw on Michael Reddy – The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which

Discussion Questions (Iser) • Dan Perkel on Wolfgang Iser – If you agree with

Discussion Questions (Iser) • Dan Perkel on Wolfgang Iser – Near the end of

Discussion Questions (Barthes) • Melanie Feinberg on Roland Barthes – How is Barthes' conception

Discussion Questions (Barthes) • Melanie Feinberg on Roland Barthes – If a Text is

Discussion Questions (Reddy) • Prof. Davis on Michael Reddy – How can an implicit

Readings for Next Time • Wednesday 09/03 – Ferdinand de Saussure: Course in General

Slides: 34

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Lecture 02: Communications Theory IS 246 Multimedia Information Prof. Marc Davis UC Berkeley SIMS Monday and Wednesday 3: 30 pm – 5: 00 pm Fall 2003 http: //www. sims. berkeley. edu/academics/courses/is 246/f 03/ IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 1

Today’s Agenda • Review of Last Time • Why Study Communication Theory? • Towards a New Understanding of Communication – Reddy on The Conduit Metaphor – Iser on The Reading Process – Barthes on “Author” and “Text” • Discussion Questions • Action Items for Next Time IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 2

The Media Problem • Vastly more media will be produced • Without ways to manage it (metadata creation and use) we lose the advantages of digital media • Most current approaches are insufficient and perhaps misguided • Great opportunity for innovation and invention • Need interdisciplinary approaches to the problem IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 4

Goals of the Course • Acquire theoretical and practical foundations to analyze, design, and produce multimedia information systems – Media theory – Media practice – Current and future media systems and applications • Learn to apply media theory to media design • Gain further experience in project-based learning and teamwork • Develop an enduring framework and methodology for media analysis and design IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 5

Course Overview • Course phases – Theoretical and practical foundations – Current issues and methods – The future of multimedia • Course assignments – Theory application – Short media production – Final project IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 6

Course Materials • Purchase Course Reader at Copy Central on Bancroft – Course Readers should be available by Thursday after 4: 00 pm • Purchase Course Textbooks – David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. 7 th Edition. Mc. Graw Hill, New York, 2003. (Available now at CAL Bookstore) – W. Daniel Hillis. The Pattern on the Stone: The Simple Ideas That Make Computers Work (Science Masters Series). Perseus Books Group, New York, 1999. (Available in a few weeks at CAL Bookstore) IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 7

Communication Theory • Encompasses a vast array of disciplines – Mass communications, literary and media theory, rhetoric, sociology, psychology, linguistics, law, cognitive science, information science, engineering, etc. • Questions – What and how we communicate – Why we communicate – What happens when communication “works” and when it doesn’t – How to improve communication IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 9

Why Study Communication Theory? • Our understanding of what, how, and why we communicate informs our – Theory of media and practice of media production – Analysis, design, and evaluation of multimedia information system and applications – How we work together in teams – How we read texts and talk with one another in this course – Law and public policy IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 10

Etymology of “Communication” • Communication - c. 1384, from O. Fr. communicacion, from L. communicationem (nom. communicatio), from communicare "to impart, share, " lit. "to make common, " from communis (see common). • Common - 13 c. , from O. Fr. comun, from L. communis "shared by all or many, " from L. com- "together" + munia "public duties, " those related to munia "office. " Alternate etymology is that Fr. got it from P. Gmc. *gamainiz (cf. O. E. gemæne), from PIE *kom-moini "shared by all, " from base *moi-, *mei- "change, exchange. " • Remuneration - c. 1400, from L. remunerationem, from remunerari "to reward, " from re- "back" + munerari "to give, " from munus (gen. muneris) "gift, office, duty. " Remunerative is from 1677. IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 11

What and How Do We Communicate? • What “gifts” do we give each other? • What do we do with these gifts? • How does this gift exchange bring us together (or not)? IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 12

Beyond the Conduit Metaphor • Reddy – Identification of the Conduit Metaphor – Suggestion of alternate Toolmakers’ Paradigm • Iser – The reading process as a primary example of the Toolmakers’ Paradigm – Phenomenology of the reading process • Barthes – New conceptions of “author” and “text” IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 14

The Conduit Metaphor • Language functions like a conduit, transferring thoughts bodily from one person to another • In writing and speaking, people insert their thoughts or feelings in the words • Words accomplish the transfer by containing the thoughts or feelings and conveying them to others • In listening or reading, people extract the thoughts and feelings once again from the words IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 16

Conduit Metaphor: Minor Frameworks • Thoughts and feelings are ejected by speaking or writing into an external “idea space” • Thoughts and feelings are reified in this external space, so they exist independent of any need for living beings to think or feel them • These reified thoughts and feelings may, or may not, find their way back into the heads of living humans IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 17

Toolmakers’ Paradigm IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 18

Semantic Pathology • Semantic Pathology – “Whenever two or more incompatible senses capable of figuring meaningfully in the same context develop around the same name” • Example – “This text is confusing. ” • Text(1) = The layout/font of the text is confusing. • Text(2) = The argument of the text is confusing. • Question: Where is Text(2)? IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 19

Iser on the Literary Work • Literary work has two poles – Artistic • Text created by the author • Reddy’s signals – Text (1) • Metaphor of “stars” – Esthetic • Realization accomplished by the reader • Reddy’s Repertoire Members – Text (2) • Metaphor of “constellations” • Literary work comes to life in the interaction between text and reader – Virtual dimension – Gaps IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 21

Iser on the Reading Process • Phenomenology of reading process similar to phenomenology of perception – Anticipation – Retrospection – Gestalt – Illusion-building/Illusion-breaking • Interaction with repertoire (familiar) • Alien associations (unfamiliar) IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 22

Roland Barthes • Death of the Author – Who is the “I” that writes? – The reader constructs the author by means of the text • From Work to Text – Method: “The text is experienced only in an activity of production. ” – Plurality: “The text is plural. ” – Filiation: The author returns to his/her text as a guest – Text is a social space which coincides only with a practice of writing IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 24

Discussion Questions (Reddy) • Ryan Shaw on Michael Reddy – The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which Reddy alludes to early in the essay, can be summarized by two principles: 1) our thinking is determined by the language we speak, and 2) people who speak different languages perceive and think about the world differently. To what extent does Reddy agree with these principles? – In September MIT will officially launch Open. Course. Ware, a free, open publication of MIT course materials. Wired magazine gushes that OCW is “an MIT education, open-source style. ” What might Reddy have to say about OCW? IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 26

Discussion Questions (Iser) • Dan Perkel on Wolfgang Iser – If you agree with Iser that there is a process of anticipation and retrospection while reading or that the reader is constantly making decision while reading that lead to a realization of alternatives, do you think that this is occurs in the conscious or subconscious of the reader? Does it matter with regards to Iser's main argument on these processes? – What does Iser mean by the term “illusion” (1 st used on page 284)? What does he mean by the borrowed term “alien associations? ” What is the relationship between the two is the reading process according to Iser? IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 27

Discussion Questions (Iser) • Dan Perkel on Wolfgang Iser – Near the end of the reading (1 st main paragraph on page 292) in a discussion of the subject-object division, Iser suggests that the removal of this division “puts reading in an apparently unique position as regards the possible absorption of new experiences. ” In regards to what is reading “unique? ” – To what activities is Iser comparing reading? Do you agree? Are there other activities which leads to similar experiences? – Would it have been helpful or even feasible for Iser to have included examples from literature in support of his main arguments? If so, what types of examples would have worked? IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 28

Discussion Questions (Barthes) • Melanie Feinberg on Roland Barthes – How is Barthes' conception of the author-reader relationship similar to Reddy's toolmaker's paradigm? – Is it significant that Reddy's examples focus on dialogues between two people, while Barthes' examples focus on written texts, for which the author is not physically present (even through an intermediary, as Reddy describes)? – Does the type of media affect the author-reader relationship? – How does Barthes differentiate Work and Text? IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 29

Discussion Questions (Barthes) • Melanie Feinberg on Roland Barthes – If a Text is dependent on a reader's active construction of interpretation, what implications does this have for creating metadata in a standard way? – Barthes talks about the tendency to reduce reading to the level of consumption, where the reader does not actively participate in the construction of the text. Certainly there is a popular conception that audio and visual media, in contrast to writing, are more “consumptive. ” (Barthes gives the example of avantgarde film and art, which, he says, people find “boring, ” because they are not prepared to engage with it. ) Does this indicate that the conduit metaphor is even stronger in relationship to multimedia than writing? How does this affect our understanding of multimedia? IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 30

Discussion Questions (Reddy) • Prof. Davis on Michael Reddy – How can an implicit theory of communication affect our analysis and design of multimedia information systems? – What are some examples of multimedia information systems that embody the Conduit Metaphor or the Toolmakers’ Paradigm theory of communication? How might they be redesigned? IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 31

Sign Up for Office Hours • Prof. Marc Davis – Thursdays 2: 00 pm – 4: 00 pm – 314 South Hall IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 33

Readings for Next Time • Wednesday 09/03 – Ferdinand de Saussure: Course in General Linguistics” IS 246 - FALL 2003. 08. 27 - SLIDE 34