When we discuss events on social media, we often find that there are many different opinions and completely opposite responses regardless of the type of event.Just because everyone will have different views on events due to their own circumstances, this is unavoidable. Different cultures and backgrounds will lead to different reasoning and understanding of the same information.
introduction：
In 1973, the cultural theorist and political activist, Stuart Hall, presented his model of communication in his essay “Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse”. His reception theory describes how producers use various signs to encode a programme’s meaning, according to their ideologies and resources, which is then decoded by the viewers, who have to interpret the message through their own framework of knowledge.This approach emphasized the importance of the social and cultural context behind the flow of “meaningful” discourse.
The four stages of communication&The decoding process
- Production stage————————Different ideologies and values are incorporated into the production of the messages.
- Circulation stage ————The way in which the message is transmitted to the audience affects how they receive it and whether or not they comprehend it completely.
- Use stage——This stage includes consumption and comprehension of the message.
- Reproduction stage—— This stage is completely dependent on the audiences’ interpretation of the message.
The decoding process
Preferred response
Negotiated response
Oppositional response
Example：
People have different views on wearing masks during covid-19.
- Preferred response：In light of the epidemic situation in various countries, the government calls on people to wear masks when traveling and maintain social distance. It is not mandatory, but a call for public health considerations.Such an appeal is obviously in line with the government’s responsibility to the people and reflects the government’s concern for the people.
- Negotiated response：People also believe that wearing a mask is a very reasonable behavior to protect their own safety. Can comply with government proposals and cooperate with government work.
- Oppositional response：Instead, these people believe that only those infected with COVID-19 should wear masks. At the same time, some people believe that all people wearing masks have been infected with COVID-19 and need to keep a distance from these people, because people who are not sick will not wear mask.
Conclusion：
In general, because people are completely independent individuals, it is impossible to set standards for everyone’s ideas. For example, whether to wear a mask to protect one’s own safety will have different voices. This means that when interpreting information, we must think carefully before reproducing the information. Otherwise, over-interpretation will cause the emergence of a new voice, which will often bias some people’s originally seemingly reasonable views.
It is clear that a message can be decoded in different ways depending on the recipient.
Reference：
Essay on encoding and decoding concept (no date) Ivory Research. Available at: https://www.ivoryresearch.com/samples/essay-on-encoding-and-decoding-concept/ (Accessed: 21 November 2023).
Encoding/decoding model of communication (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encoding/decoding_model_of_communication#:~:text=Thus%2C%20Encoding%2FDecoding%20is%20the,words%2C%20displays%20non%20verbal%20communication. (Accessed: 21 November 2023).
Hi – very useful post. I like that you applied a real life example, being the usage of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic in your blog about the different types of readings in the decoding process. I was also quite informed about the four different stages of communication – the circulation stage is something I had not really thought about when writing my own blog about ideas of encoding and decodin. Could you give an example as to how audiences may interpret the same text differently depending on how they received the product, e.g. through online news, through social media, through TV, through print media etc?
Thanks for your comment. ——In my opinion, the circulation stage is the stage where disagreements are most likely to arise in the encoding and decoding process. First online news and print media often provide more comprehensive coverage, leading to a more nuanced understanding, while social media may provide a fragmented or biased perspective. Secondly, television and social media focus more on visuals and immediate impact, while print media and online news emphasize detailed text analysis. Television news may emphasize visual impact—body language, tone, and immediate reactions. At the same time, the interpretation may be biased towards emotional aspects, influencing the audience based on the opinions of the anchor or experts.
It was a really great blog about decoding and encoding. I love how you separate it into different parts, like the introduction and examples, making it easy to read. Also, having images included and the short form of the four stages of communication and the decoding process provided clear explanations of it, and the real-life example made it easier to understand the decoding process.
Hi. Firstly, your example clearly exemplifies the process of encoding and decoding, and the three ways of answering it exemplify different patterns. Since I also chose the topic of encoding and decoding, I think you did a very good job finding this example. But I think it would be better if you could add more about the process of encoding for your blog post.
I saw your cover on the homepage and was immediately drawn in!! This picture does a really good job of making me understand what you’re trying to say without looking at the title, and it makes me feel easy to understand what you’re trying to say.
In addition, your typography is very good, I love it!!
I think it’s very good because the blog post is well illustrated, your explanations are adequate, and the choice of examples is valuable and meaningful, fantastic.