Read and translate the text using a dictionary if necessary

Having looked at the key elements in the communication process, it is possible to point out three common communication forms or situations and explore how these elements vary from setting to setting. The first and perhaps the most common form is called interpersonal communication. In this situation, one person (or group) is interacting with another person (or group) without the aid of a mechanical device. The source and receiver in this form of communication are within one another’s physical presence. Talking to your roommate, participating in a class discussion, and conversing with your professor after class are all examples of interpersonal communication.

Machine-assisted interpersonal communication combines characteristics of both the interpersonal and mass communication situations. In this form, one or more people are communicating by means of a mechanical device (or devices) with one or more receivers. The source and receiver may or may not be in each other’s immediate physical presence. In fact, one of the important characteristics of machine-assisted interpersonal communication is that it allows the source and receiver to be separated by both time and space. The machine can give message permanence by storing it on paper, magnetic tape, or some other material. The machine can also extend the range of the message by amplifying it and or transmitting it over large distances. Without a microphone, one person can talk only to those who can hear the unaided human voice; with a public address system, assembled thousands can hear. The telephone allows two people to converse even though they are hundreds, even thousands of miles apart. A pen and a piece of paper, which make up what we might consider a very simple machine, allow us to send a message over great distances and across time/ A letter can be reread several years after it was written and communicate anew.

The recent appearance of new personal communication media ensures that machine-assisted interpersonal communication will continue to grow. The two innovations that have had the most impact are the facsimile (fax) machine and computerized data bases.

Facsimile transmission is an old idea, first invented in the 1840s. It wasn’t until the late 1980s, however, that it caught on, thanks to the development of low cost fax machines that used the phone lines to transmit documents.

From the standpoint of machine-assisted interpersonal communication, the computer bulletin board system (BBS) is the most intriguing. The BBS works a little like a telephone conference call but you type instead of talk. Once you enter the system, or go “online”, you may post a massage for all to see it, if you are the shy type, you may just read what others are saying.

The third major communication setting is the one that we will be most interested in. Although the differences between machine-assisted communication and unaided interpersonal communication are fairly easily seen, the differences between machine-assisted interpersonal communication and mass communication are not that clear. A working definition of what we mean by mass communicationmay be appropriate at this point. Mass communication refers to the process by which a complex organization with the aid of one or more machines produces and transmits public messages that are directed at large, heterogeneous, and scattered audiences.

The source in the mass communication situation is a group of individuals who usually act within predetermined roles in an organizational setting. Reporters gather news; writers draft editorials; a cartoonist may draw an editorial cartoon; the advertising department lays out ads; editors lay out all of these things together on a sample page; technicians transfer this page to a master, which is taken to a press where other technicians produce the final paper; the finished copies are given to the delivery staff who distribute them; and, of course, behind all of this is a publisher who has the money to pay for a building, presses, staff, trucks, paper, ink, and so on. As you can see, this particular newspaper is not the product of a single individual but of an organization.

One of the prime distinguishing characteristics of mass communication is the audience. In the first place, the mass communication audience is a large one, sometimes numbering in the millions of people. Second, the audience is also heterogeneous; that is, it is made up of several dissimilar groups who may differ in age intelligence, political beliefs, ethnic backgrounds, and so on. Even in situations where the mass communication audience is somewhat well defined, heterogeneity is still present. Third, the audience is spread out over a wide geographic area; source and receiver are not in each other's immediate physical presence. The large size of the audience and its geographic separation both contribute to a fourth distinguishing factor. The audience is anonymous to one another. Lastly, in keeping with the idea of a public message, the audience in mass communication is self-defined. The receiver chooses what film to see, what paper to read, and what program to watch. In the interpersonal and machine-assisted settings, sources may search you out and select you as the receiver of the message, but in mass communication, the receiver is the key to the process. If the receiver chooses not to attend to the message, the message is not received. Consequently, the various mass communication sources spend a great deal of time and effort to get your attention so that you will include yourself in the audience.

Ex. 1. Answer the following questions:

1. How many forms are there in the communication process?

2. What are the advantages of machine-assisted interpersonal communication?

3. When was facsimile transmission first invented and when did it come to be used?

4. What is a working definition of mass communication?

5. How is a newspaper put together?

6. What is special about mass communication audience?

Ex. 2. Give Russian equivalents to these expressions:

Ex.3 Give English equivalents to these expressions:

Ex4. Match the words with their definitions:

Ex.5. Insert the words and phrases given into the sentences. Translate sentences into Russian:

1. The two __________ that have had the most _________ are the facsimile machine and computerized data bases.

2. The telephone _________ two people _______ even though they are hundreds even thousands of miles apart.

3. The BBS works a little like a telephone conference call but you type_____ talk.

4. Mass communication refers to the process by which a complex organization with the aid of one or more machines_____ and_____ public messages that are directed at large ___and___ audiences.

5. One of the prime distinguishing characteristics of mass communication is ___.

6. The large size of the audience and its geographic___ both contribute to a fourth distinguishing factor.