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Graphics 1
Introduction
information theory - Shannon and Weaver application to visual communication; process theory noise: redundancy, entropy limitations of process theory
Warren Weaver
American scientist and mathematician director of the Division of Natural Sciences at the Rockefeller Foundation, 1932 - 1955
influential in the application of science; genetics, agriculture, medicine and molecular engineering and many other fields
early work on machine translation and mass communication - tower block analogy
1937, aged 21, his Masters thesis established mathematical basis of digital circuit design and hence the modern computer had varied interests
created a mechanical mouse that could learn a maze invented a motorised pogo stick beat blackjack and roulette at casinos using game theory and computation applied his theories to the stock market and was very successful! .
treated the problems he encountered as the need to distinguish signal from noise
by considering the role of data in contrast to signal processing he founded the field of information theory hence laid the foundations of all modern communication .
theory focuses on the best way for the sender to encode information before sending it
realised that all communication, including human language, could be measured in the form of a rate of bits per second and that all channels of communication had their own maximum capacity, also measured in bits per second considered the role of noise in disrupting integrity of information limited channel capacity and noise lead to uncertainty developed the concept of information entropy as a measure of uncertainty in a message .
what limits the capacity of the channel? where might noise be introduced between sender and receiver?
process theory
Shannon and Weavers contribution has been applied to many areas
communications systems computer science linguistics cognitive science sociology media studies critical theory marketing and advertising
if graphic design is concerned with effective visual communication then information theory may help us analyse and discuss our work; process theory
process theory
all communication can be considered as a process in which message follows path from sender to receiver
source
transmitter
noise
receiver
destination
client
designer noise
medium
audience
semantic level
which language to use? how accurately does our language convey the meaning we intend? how much can be lost whilst still preserving the meaning?
effectiveness level
does the message have the effect we want to achieve? what can we do if it doesnt? .
relationship between technical level and effectiveness level can be described as feedback
specification adjusted and fed back to designer Shannon and Weaver did not include this in their original work
audience
noise
so the process model tends to treat the message as something to be encoded, transmitted and received
does not have much to say about the message itself
as a result the meaning of the message is determined before it leaves the sender
process models consider minimum and maximum factors required to maintain integrity of the meaning such as; the minimum redundancy required the maximum information that can be carried by a channel etc .
in semiotic approaches, the meaning of the message is fixed by the receiver, not by the sender!
this takes into account noise introduced between sender and receiver also takes into account differences in culture also takes into account different associations in the same culture
when combined, process theory and semiotics provide a complete framework for analysing effective visual communication
Sources
Noble, I. & Bestley, R., 2007. Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methodologies in Graphic Design, AVA Publishing. Crow, D., 2003. Visible Signs: An Introduction to Semiotics, AVA Publishing. Baldwin, J. & Roberts, L., 2006. Visual Communication: From Theory to Practice, AVA Publishing. Chandler, D., Semiotics for Beginners, http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/semiotic.html http://www2.research.att.com/~njas/doc/shannonbio.html - biography of Shannon with links to his papers