First Reading

This reading made me start to realize the many ways in which people communicate, and how they go about doing so. Communication has been made possible through message, method, and medium. We use messages everyday in our lives to help better understand people, signs, artwork etc. However, the way that one person sees a message may be totally different from another persons point of view. This is the beauty behind messages. Method also leaves that open area for a person to interpret something in whatever way they want. I have found myself looking at things very different than other people. When multiple people have different opinions on the same topic, it allows everyone to take in consideration the different perspectives that are out there. Medium is how we receive the messages, and it has evolved with our changing world. New technology has made the way we receive messages endless. Mass media has made medium expand exponentially. By using the phrase "Will You Marry Me", the book displays message, method, and medium. The message is exactly the same throughout this passage. However, the method and medium by which this message is received drastically changes. Whether it's from simply getting down on one knee or writing it on a billboard, the message stays the same.

Audience, purpose, and context deal with all types of communication. The audience that something is directed towards is very important. You wouldn't want to be writing to second graders about politics. For one, they would not understand what you're saying, and two they quite frankly wouldn't care. Purpose always plays a big role in communicating. If your reading a text or listening to a lecture, you want it to stay on course and have a certain reason or lesson behind it. If it is scatter-brained and hard to follow, then the reader or listener looses interest very quickly. By knowing the context of a story, you tend to get sort of a background from the reader or speaker. If you know that you are reading something from a couple hundred years ago, you know that you must have patience. The text may be hard to understand and very complex. Likewise is you're reading a passage from a time of famine, for example, you know that the writer will not have a very positive attitude toward the world. By knowing all of these details of writing, it makes understand people and passages a whole lot easier.