Mass Communication

       The lesson on mass communication was my first time taking notes on a lecture during a class other then social studies. I was pleasantly surprised about the level of understanding it gave me, being such a visual learner. I was already aware that individual communication is one on one but the group and mass communication was new to me. The difference between the two is that you are able to receive immediate feedback through group communication but not through mass communication. Mass Communication travels through five steps, stimulus, encoding, transmission, decoding and internalization.

       Stimulus is coming up with the idea to write, or create your form of communication. Encoding is carrying out your idea and turning it into something people can read or watch. Transmission is the third step in which you get the media out to your audience. The last two steps are decoding, when your audience watches, reads, or listens to your form of communication, and internalization, processing or reacting to the information.

       Several things can get in the way during mass communication. This part of the lecture was confusing because several of the filters and impediments sound similar, like physcological and physical filters. The physcological filter is a mental barrier that keeps the person from getting the information. This could happen if they have something against one of the characters. The physical filter is just what it sounds like. A physical barrier, like if someone was blind or deaf, that makes it impossible for them to consume the media. An example of an impediment is environmental noise. This form of noise happens when something about the environment keeps you from decoding the information. For example, if the signal went out, you would be incapable of watching the news.

     For me, mass communication is both one of the most important and most confusing lessons we have learned so far. There is a lot to remember about the tedious, step by step process. Now that I have figured it out, I have a much better understanding of the process that anything a journalist produces goes through. I have really benefited from these lessons and I can tell this program is going to shape me into the writer, reporter, and college student that I hope to be in the future.