The Transmission and Ritual View of Communication

The Transmission View

        The transmission view of communication is the commonest in our culture--perhaps in all industrial cultures--and dominates contemporary dictionary entries under the term. It is defined by terms such as "imparting," "sending," "transmitting," or "giving information to others." It is formed from a metaphor of geography or transportation. In the nineteenth century but to a lesser extent today, the movement of goods or people and the movement of information were seen as essentially identical processes and both were described by the common noun "communication." The center of this idea of communication is the transmission of signals or messages over distance for the purpose of control. It is a view of communication that derives from one of the most ancient of human dreams: the desire to increase the speed and effect of messages as they travel in space...

The Ritual View

     A ritual view of communication is directed not toward the extension of messages in space but toward the maintenance of society in time; not the act of imparting information but the representation of shared beliefs.

     If the archetypal case of communication under a transmission view is the extension of messages across geography for the purpose of control, the archetypal case under a ritual view is the sacred ceremony that draws persons together in fellowship and commonality.

      The indebtedness of the ritual view of communication to religion is apparent in the name chosen to label it. Moreover, it derives from a view of religion that downplays the role of the sermon, the instruction and admonition, in order to highlight the role of the prater, the chant, and the ceremony. It sees the original or highest manifestation of communication not in the transmission of intelligent information but in the construction and maintenance of an ordered, meaningful cultural world that can serve as a control and container for human action.....(18-19)

Note

      

    As the article shows, there are two different versions of communication: The ritual and the transmission communication. The transmission one is the most used in our culture and in most of cultures around the world. The view of communication that interests me most is the ritual view. We all know the ritual communication as a religious part of communication and we all stereotype it as ceremonies that could happen on churches or things like that. In my opinion, ritual communication can be something else. I think that we can all create our own rituals, things that we can do with our family or friends like having a special night like for example: Video games night, Mexican meal night, etc. These are the kind of ritual that we as citizens in the 21st century are used to.