To review, information is a sequence of symbols that can be interpreted as a message. However, information is also an awareness of things inside and outside the self that must be encoded in symbols to be conveyed to another.
More simply, information is what you don't already know; therefore, you need to transmit it back and forth between yourself and another person.
Whenever we send someone information, we need to make sure that this communication is:
As you learned in an earlier lesson, there are a variety of ways that we can send information, but each of these ways involves the use of symbols and codes.
Symbols are a representation of a concept in a tangible form, and a code is a set of symbols with consistent meanings used to hold and convey information.
EXAMPLE
When we drive, we use the traffic lights to let us know what action to take. Each of the colors in a traffic light is a symbol, and we determine whether to go, yield, or stop based on the color. When combined with other traffic signs, we have a code that informs us of automobile rules and protocols. Maybe a traffic light is red and there is a railroad sign activated; that lets us know to stop because a train is on or approaching the railroad crossing. The colors, pictures, and words on signs are the code, and we can create universal information by using those same components across locations.There are a variety of different codes from which we can choose when sending information. Words can be spoken or written, but we can also use gestures or pictures.
EXAMPLE
Let’s say you’re in another country, and you don't speak the same language as the people who live there. You can use gestures to try to act out your message. If you want something in a restaurant, you can make a motion as if you're pouring water. You can wave, or shake your head. This is how we use gestures as symbols to form a code that we hope the other party will understand.EXAMPLE
The emojis of today are more detailed than the smiley faces of the early 1990s and 2000s. Emojis are picture symbols that represent various actions and emotions. Instead of sending a long text message with many words, someone may use a string of emojis as code to tell their friend something funny or important.As you can see from these examples, there are two broad ways we can use symbols and codes to convey information:
Verbal communication is communication using the code commonly called spoken or written language.
So if we speak the same language as the person we’re trying to communicate with, we use words. When we use these words or this language to communicate in writing, whether it be through an email, a letter, or a book, this is written language.
In order for verbal communication to be effective, we have to make sure that we're understanding it in the same way as the person we’re communicating with. There are some obstacles that can get in the way of this.
EXAMPLE
You're speaking to a coworker whose first language is not English. You say, “Wow, I'm so glad we've met the deadline on the project. I'm just going to go home and chill.”EXAMPLE
Or you could use a phrase that somebody doesn't understand: “Let's think outside the box.” If someone hasn't heard that phrase before, this person will wonder, “What does it mean to think outside the box?”Nonverbal communication is communication using a variety of physical codes, such as:
EXAMPLE
With body language, we're always sending signals in the way we present ourselves in front of someone; these signals don’t always match our verbal communication. You might want to have a friendly conversation, but you are standing in a position that makes you look defensive.EXAMPLE
Often in American culture, we like to have direct eye contact because it means that we're listening and respecting the person speaking. But in some cultures, direct eye contact is considered a bit aggressive. This form of nonverbal communication can be interpreted differently, depending on the culture.EXAMPLE
We already saw how we will rely on gestures if we're speaking to someone who doesn't share our same spoken language. But we also use gestures to help punctuate something. If we want to demonstrate how large or small something is, or how excited we are about something, we often use gestures to supplement our explanation of this.EXAMPLE
Sometimes our facial expressions might give us away by communicating something we don't want to be communicating. Once again, let’s say you're sitting in a meeting. Someone makes a suggestion or shares an idea, and you roll your eyes.When the verbal and nonverbal contradict each other, communication is never effective. It’s thus important to be aware that we use both types of communication to get our messages across.
However, when we’re writing instead of speaking, there isn't any nonverbal communication. People can’t hear us, and they can’t see our facial expressions.
This is how written messages like emails can sometimes be misinterpreted. People might read something and think it sounds bossy, arrogant, or something other than the sender intended. In writing, this is called tone, and it’s often easy to misinterpret because we don't have the other nonverbal signals there.
Source: Adapted from Sophia tutorial by Marlene Johnson.