Engaging in a Dual Perspective

Our text describes five requirements for interpersonal communication competence are (1) developing a range of communication skills; (2) adapting them appropriately to goals, others and situations; (3) engaging in dual perspective; (4) monitoring communication and its impact; (5) and committing to effective and ethic interpersonal communication. I think one of the most important aspects of the author’s five requirement is (3) engaging in a dual perspective.

In developing a dual perspective, a communicator has to be able to not only know his or her own perspective, but also has to be able to put themselves in the other person’s shoes. By being able to put yourself into the other’s shoes we are able to connect with another person better, and engage with them in a more congruent and peaceful way.  The text gives a great example of a mother who always held her ground with her daughter and never tried to understand her interests and her individuality.  She noticed that by constantly limiting her daughter to things that she accepted, it was driving her and her daughter father apart. When she was able to put their differences aside and think with a dual perspective she was able to strengthen her relationship between her and her daughter.

Just like the story with the mother and daughter, I also believe that being able to think in a dual perspective is important for maintaining a healthy and positive relationship with those around you. Sometimes we have to learn to agree to disagree in order to create happiness and tolerance with those around us.

-jossshhuaa 

Levels of Communication in Relationships

My relationship with my girlfriend has really changed over the last few years that I’ve known her.  First, the story will make much more sense with some brief background information.

I have spent my life almost entirely in San Jose, all my schooling and work have been primarily in this area. My girlfriend, Jinny, is from Hawaii and still resides in Oahu. We met two years ago at church convention in Las Vegas, but never really thought anything about our friendship.  We got along during the retreat but after the week was over we didn’t’ speak much or even at all. Things started to change when her best friend moved to the Bay Area from Oahu and I began to talk to her through her friend.

Long story short, I ended up talking to Jinny more and more and we slowly became good friends, best friends, and eventually in a relationship. We went from not remembering that each other existed, I-It relationship.  Only asking the casual how have you been, what have you been up to questions, never getting into great detail about our personal lives.  We eventually became close friends, I-You relationship.  Where we both began to confide in one another began to share are past and future aspirations. Now we are able to share intimate details and feelings with one another, like a I-thou relationship. Its been an interesting journey, looking through the evolution of our relationship.  The distance does hinder our relationship in some ways, but allows us to search and seek out alternative and more creative ways to communication and spend time with each other.

_jossshhuaa

Linear vs. Interactive Models of Communication

The text describes two seemingly similar but different models of communication. The linear model of communication views communication as a one-way transaction.  A sender broadcasts a message to another party.  However the message has to be first transmitted through some type of medium, speech, text, etc. and encoded. The message is then received by the intended person and is decoded and communication has been completed.

The linear model of communication can be seen through a simple text message. One person will input words into a text message and the message is sent and received by the other person. 

On the other hand, the interactive model of communication takes the analysis of communication one step further.  The transaction of a message is still portrayed as the linear model, but the interactive model adds feedback into play.  The feedback enables the sender to receive a reply to his or her message and even turns the receiver into a sender as well.  This constant cycle of communication is a much better representation of how communication really takes place.

The interactive model can be seen when the receiver of a text message replies to the initial text. Any message sent back will give the initial sender feedback and continues the communication cycle.

-Jossshhuaa

Discourses of Attention

Michael Newman brings up a lot of new ideas to me through his article.  He notes how attention span of children are constantly changing, and how those changes affect and change the way people act today.

One aspect of Newman’s article that really popped out to me was the purpose of the Sesame Street. I did not know that Sesame Street or other children’s televisions programs were formatted in such a way that appealed to their low attention spans.  Yet it so clear to how the different segments, constant changing of characters, and the audience engaging aspects of the show constantly keep a child’s mind entertained with a new topic.

Additionally, Newman flowed flawlessly into his next topic of discussing how today’s society is a “snack culture”.  Which means we don’t prefer to sit down and watch and consume long entire programs, such as feature length films and reading books, but instead society is turning to quick On Demand content such as YouTube.  Online media archives such as YouTube allows people to watch what they want, when they want, simply and easily. 

I never looked at how our media has changed with our attention span. Newman made is clear to me how this happened. But it only makes sense for things to change with the times.

-Jossshhuaa

A Collective Behavior in YouTube

First off, I personally really enjoyed this article because it was about my social media exploration project. I might even incorporate it into my paper some how. It was very well written, concise, and offered a lot of information about how YouTube is used as a public sphere.

Chu began by discussing YouTube as a public sphere. She noted all the different levels of interaction that happens on and off YouTube.  Between the comments, video responses, and off line discussions, the user uploaded content has become a focal point for many discussions globally. Interactions that Chu noted proves her point on how YouTube has become a communication hub online.

Also I believed her method really brought home the proof on how much impact YouTube has on the public.  She not only noted how many responses she found because of the Uncle Bus video, but what types of responses, who they were, when they were posted, and more.  That level of detail and research more than credited her legitimacy. 

All in all, Chu wrote a great article that will really help my research in my final project. I hope you were all able to find value in this article as well.

Here's the video if your interested. It's pretty intense. 

-Jossshhuaa

The World Wide Web

The world wide web article was an extremely informative article.  It went in depth into the processes of the web without being using too much complicated terminology.  Starting off with the common uses of the world wide web (W3) and then going into how it works. 

One thing that I found particularly interesting was the purpose of the http.  According to the article, the http is a simple request and respond protocol. It allows computers to communicate with servers and send and receive information. I always thought the http was just like some arbitrary acronym for something that didn’t really matter.

Another interesting part of the article was how they described the future of the internet.  Since this article was written in 1994, it is incredible to see their predictions come true.  There are many more purposes for the internet today, than just email. Having your own website is easy, online stores are all too common, and interfaces created online are very sophisticated.  I can’t wait to see what else will come up in another fifteen years. 

-jossshhuaa