3 THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS
The discussion of the communication process begins with
communication goals (see Figure 1
) and
proceeds by incorporating three inter-woven elements, as follows:
the
communication strategies for a given communication goal;
the medium on
which the message is transmitted;
the form in which the information is
packed into a message.
Although not necessarily sequential, they will
be explained one by one in the sections that follow (Table
3
provides a glossary of
all the process elements). Once the first two elements (goals and strategies)
have been discussed, we will elaborate on the assumptions behind behavior and
choice, and will use these to explain how goals affect the choice of strategies.
The same rationale for choice is later used to explain how strategies affect the
choice of message and medium, and how inputs affect the process (discussed in
section 5).