4. The Process of Communication.

4. The Process of Communication. Communication begins with an impulse (or
motivation) to pass on a message made up of bits of information. In the process of
encoding, units of information are selected and organized for transmission. Input is the
sum of experiences that build up in the human brain or computer. Output is the encoded
message transmitted by the information source (an individual person or group of
people).
The interpretation of the message is referred to as decoding. Feedback is the response, or
message that the recipient (decoder) returns to the sender (encoder).
Graphic presentation of this model of the process of communication:
Impulse – input/encoding/output – relaying through potential distortion on both sides –
decoding – feedback
Example: When Peter calls Jenny on the phone and says, “Would you like to stop at the
Big Rooster‟s today?” he is drawing on his pleasant past experiences with Big Rooster‟s
roast chicken and potato chips. He has encoded a message and transmitted it to Jenny,
using the English language as the medium and the telephone lines as channel of
communication.
Jenny, in turn, has received the message, decoded (= translated) it, and on the basis of her
information source (= input = sum total of experiences), gives Peter feedback (response)
by saying, “I dislike the Big Rooster thoroughly. How about the Chinese instead?”