Communication

Definition (J. Z. Young)
Definition (Russell L. Ackoff and Fred E. Emery)
Definition (Colin Cherry)
Problems in communication (Warren Weaver)
Sset of messages (W. Ross Ashby)
Components of communication (Russell L. Ackoff and Fred E. Emery)
Encoding/decoding (Geoffrey Broadbent)
Noise (Geoffrey Broadbent)
Noise (W. Ross Ashby)
Noise (F. de P. Hanika)
Communication and control (J. Z. Young)

Definition

[1951] J. Z. Young, Doubt and Certainty in Science
“In its usually accepted sense ... the word communication implies interchange of information between two or more people or animals.” (Comment on the First Lecture, p. 19)

[1972] Russell L. Ackoff and Fred E. Emery, On Purposeful Systems, Tavistock Publications, London.
“One purposeful individual (B) communicates to another (A) when a message produced by B produces a change in one or more of the parameters (probability of selecting each course of action, efficiency of the courses of action for each objective, value of the outcomes) of A’s purposeful state.” (p. 142)
Note: “... both parties in communication must be purposeful. If we push a button to start a machine and the machine has no choice, communication has not taken place.” (p. 142)
Communication is made of:
- Information: influences choice of course of action;
- Instruction: influences efficiency with regard to the chosen course of action;
- Motivation: influences changes in relative values with regard to courses of action to be chosen. (p. 144)

[1968 Second Edition] Colin Cherry, On Human Communication
"Communication is essentially a social affair."
“The very word ‘communicate’ means share."
"A group of people, a society, a culture, I would define as 'people in communication'."
"Communication renders true social life practicable, for communication means organisation."
"Communication means a sharing of elements of behaviour, or modes of life, by the existence of sets of rules."
"There is no communication without a system of signs." (Chapter 1, pp. 3-7)

Problems in communication

[1949] Warren Weaver, The Mathematical Theory of Communication
“Relative to the broad subject of communication, there seem to be problems at three levels. Thus it seems reasonable to ask, serially:
- Level A. The technical problem
     How accurately can the symbols of communication be transmitted?
- Level B. The semantic problem
      How precisely do the transmitted symbols convey the desired meaning?
- Level C. The effectiveness problem
      How effectively does the received meaning affect conduct in the desired way?”
(Chapter I, p. 4)

Set of messages

[1956] W. Ross Ashby, An Introduction to Cybernetics
"The transmission (and storage) of information is ... essentially related to the existence of a set of possibilities."
“Communication thus necessarily demands a set of messages. Not only is this so, but the information carried by a particular message depends on the set it comes from. The information conveyed is not an intrinsic property of the individual message.” (Chapter 7, p. 124)

Components of communication

[1972] Russell L. Ackoff and Fred E. Emery, On Purposeful Systems, Tavistock Publications, London.
- “Message: a set of one or more signs intended by its producer to produce a response either in another or in himself.” (p. 176)
- “Encoding: the act of producing a message.” (p. 190)
- “Decoding: the production of a response by a message to what it signifies.” (p. 190)

Encoding/decoding

[1988] Geoffrey Broadbent, Design in Architecture, First Edition 1973
“These processes of translating the message into a form which can be transmitted are known as encoding, and at the further end of the channel an equivalent, reverse process of decoding takes place, in which the physical forms of words are translated back into ideas.” (Chapter 11, p. 208)

Noise

[1988, First Edition 1973] Geoffrey Broadbent, Design in Architecture
Semantic noise: refers to analogies, metaphors, etc. selected by the information source; they can introduce distortions into the coding process;
Mechanical noise: refers to any disturbance in any channel used to transmit the information; e.g. a blot of ink on a text, hisses on a telephone, etc.;
Perceptual noise: refers to the decoder adding meanings different from those the source intended; the decoder will draw on his own experience of connotational meanings and this will introduce perceptual noise.
(Chapter 11, pp. 209-210)

[1956] W. Ross Ashby, An Introduction to Cybernetics
“It must be noticed that noise is in no intrinsic way distinguishable from any other form of variety. Only when some recipient is given who will state which of the two is important to him, is a distinction between message and noise possible.”
“'Noise' is thus purely relative to some given recipient, who must say which information he wants to ignore.” (Chapter 9, p. 186)

[1972] F. de P. Hanika, New Thinking in Management, Second Edition
Noise: “... any disturbance in a communication system which results in loss of information or meaning. Increasing redundancy offers one way of combating 'noise'.”(Chapter 4, p. 48)

Communication and control

[1951] J. Z. Young, Doubt and Certainty in Science
“One of the chief methods of control that modern man uses to ensure his stability is his communication with others. This forms the basis of co-operative social action. The process of communication consists in converting the input of information that an individual receives into an output that also has the character of information, because it is directed to another person.” (Comment on the first lecture, p. 18)

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