Routledge

Resources

Web Activities

1. Introduction

What do you mean by ‘Communication’?

Bank of England £10 note
Money has changed numerously over the years, but in this day and age what does a £10 note mean to society? How has it changed in terms of security features? What does the note communicate to us?

Dennis Tcheung Essay
Incredible Cures: Eternal life Testimonials
What are the main differences between an email to a colleague, a university dissertation and a letter to a friend? Why are they written differently? Compare the above essay and letter. What is different about the formats?

What do you mean by ‘Culture’?

Homer, Greece, Ancient History
Dante Alighieri
John Milton
Research Homer, Dante and Milton at the above sites and others on the internet. What do you think makes them worthy of being included in the canon?

Great Books of the Western World
There are many different opinions on ‘the canon’ of Western literature. Look at the titles included on this list. What is the most contemporary book listed. Why do you think so many of the books are so old?

F. R. Leavis
Raymond Williams
Read up on F.R. Leavis and Raymond Williams. Do they have the same view of culture? Which do you agree with more and why?

2. Codes

Verbal communication

Lexical Variation
The British Library has an interesting map of changes in dialect and pronunciation at this link. You can read about Received Pronunciation and different ways of pronouncing or writing a sentence and what that tells the listener about your geographic origins. Listen to different accents and see if you can place them on the map.

The Ultimate Rap Dictionary
The ultimate rap dictionary – how different would rap be if standard English was used?

Another Brick in the Wall
Pink Floyd's Another Brick uses double negatives. Would it convey the same feeling if corrected?

Double Negatives
Censors have even interrupted singers and changed songs to try to improve grammar.

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http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/tv/roylefamily460
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Compare and contrast the use of language from these British comedies. Pay particular attention to education, family background and social position. Which language do the audience find to be the funniest? Discuss.

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Look at these three people, how important is their dialect in our society? Do these people gain more respect from the public for speaking in this manner?

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Now look at these people, how different are their dialects to the people above? What would happen if they were to swap roles? Would both be accepted into their new roles or would there be an outcry?

Is the target audience different because of the difference in dialects? What does it tell you about the difference in social classes?

Non-verbal communication

School Uniform Debate and Poll
Read the pros and cons of this school uniform debate. Conduct your own survey and see how many people are for or against school uniform and how many of the reasons for or against are related to how fashion/dress communicates to the outside world.

YouTube
Watch any selection of videos on YouTube and analyse the nonverbal communication.

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Look at the photo, what does the body language of both the man and the women tell you? The woman is invading the man’s personal space, what is his reaction to that? Is the communication between the two of them positive?

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Think about gestures which are made in sport and everyday life. Why are our hand gestures so important in showing how we feel? How do they compare with spoken language? Are gestures easier to understand? What other situations can you find yourself in where hand gestures can be vital?

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Look at the pictures above, do these people have their own individual ‘look’ or are they just trying to fit in like everybody else? Why are they making a statement about what they are wearing?

Make a list of postures that might be considered intimidating. Make another list with postures that may be considered to be welcoming. What makes one posture different from another? Why do we interpret them in the way that we do?

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What sort of signals and gesture do we use in conversation? Do they help the listener to understand what you’re saying? Does it matter who is making the signal? What’s the difference between George Bush (above) making this hand gesture and a teenager?

3. Identity

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Who are your role models? What qualities do you admire about them? What makes them a person which you look up to?

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Think of traditional children’s stories. How many of them are centred on characters who work alone and how many are based on teamwork?

Skirts for Men
Read this page about female and male dress. Do you agree with the author? Consider situations in which ‘alternate’ dress may be frowned upon or thought acceptable e.g. an actress wearing a trouser suit to the Oscar’s, a Scottish groom wearing a kilt to his wedding, a man wearing tights as part of an Elizabethan costume. How have conventions of dress changed over time?

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Gender plays a serious role in presentation. What would be expected of these sorts of groups?

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Choose an artist or musician or writer or film-maker that has an individual style. Try to define what their style is and how we have come to know them through this style. Pay particular attention to their characteristics. Look at their lyrics, characters, chosen music etc.

The Facebook Blog
Social network sites such as Facebook allow for many kind of interactions and allow us to present ourselves in many ways. You’ll see at the site above that Facebook now includes profiles for US politicians. Are their Facebook personas likely to be different to their real personalities?

4. Toolkits

Texts and meanings

people.jpg
List similarities and differences between the people on this picture. It could be what they are wearing, the way they are positioned on the page.

Magazines.jpg
Look at different types of genres of magazines. Identify three significant genres available and list their characteristics. Design an A4 mock up for a new addition to the genre of your choice. Think about the current market and what is available now.

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http://www.pcformat.co.uk/magazine/
Compare and contrast the two covers. List the similarities and differences, and consider the differences between the real women and the cyber women. What impact do they have?

Weapon
Barthes suggested that signs signify (operate) on a number of levels, which he called ‘levels of signification’ (denotation, connotation, myth and ideology). Explore in detail the levels of signification at which this text operates.

Encoding and Decoding

Apocalypse Now Redux
Saving Private Ryan
Apply Lasswell's formula to the above DVD covers and compare your results. What differences do you notice? Which one uses more text?

Take That Beautiful World
What is communicated by the Take That CD? Look at every component and comment.

Look at the Take That CD cover and identify SIX significant paradigms which have been used to create the syntagms offered.

Words and pictures: Signs and signatures

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What might be the purpose of this flyer?
Who might send this flyer?
Who do you think the intended audience might be?

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What readings of the image are being suggested by the captions? What alternative readings become possible if the words are taken away? (What has been done to the image to make it more powerful?)

Collect TEN different ways or forms which show a representation of the word ‘baby’. Arrange them in order of greatest convention, of the language, society and culture in which they were made. Here is one image to start with, baby-girl-5-five-weeks-....jpg

Taking the process further

Identify the sender(s) in the following communications:
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Bottle_bud.jpg
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thsimpsons01.jpg

boltonuni_1.jpg
Look at the above poster issued by Bolton University. What do you think about the piece? What do you think it is trying to achieve? Does the poster inspire you?

Hostel 2
Consider the specific ways in which the above website identifies and communicates with its audience. Who makes up the audience and how are they addressed?

Natwest.jpg
Identify Jakobson’s six elements and six functions within the Natwest advertisement. Which do you personally consider especially significant in this example.

Q%20Magazine%20September%202006.pdf
Read the article above and take a look at the main photo of the interview, what image does it convey? Is there any bias in the article? How is Meatloaf represented?

5. Practical Analysis and Case Studies

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In the first three images in this cartoon, who is speaking? Which of his features have been exaggerated? What happens in the last three images? Who is the final figure? What past situation is he comparing with the current situation in Iraq? Explain Peirce’s three sign categories (icon, index and symbol).

http://www.butlinsonline.co.uk/index.cfm?page=10266
What is each image showing? How is Butlins represented, and what does the show the experience of Butlins to be?

card-sparkly-birthday.jpg
Look at the above card and then create a similar design but for a boy. Annotate semiotically to demonstrate the nature of the communication you are conducting.

http://www.theory.org.uk/
Select a website and consider the different ways in which it attempts to target its audience. Consider also the barriers it might be putting up to those it does not wish/intend to target.

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Compare these CD covers of Westlife and Just Jack. What message is being portrayed? List the similarities and the differences? Why are they different from one another?

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Look at these to posters? What makes them communicate their femininity and masculinity? What emotions do the posters express?

6. The Individual and Contemporary Culture

U.S.A. coming of age traditions
Read about the different coming-of-age rituals celebrated by different cultures. Consider also those not included such as the ‘sweet sixteen’ parties now popular in U.S.A.

Punk's definitly not dead in Moscow
Noble twinset beauty
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What is conveyed by the dress and adornment of the people pictured here? What do their clothes communicate about their personality, class etc.

English slang and colloquialisms used in the United Kingdom
An online slang dictionary – how many of the entries make sense to you and are in use today? Which of your expressions are missing?

The Politically Correct Scrapbooks
Political Correctness — the awful truth
These are sites that are against political correctness. Do you find any of the language on here offensive? If so, consider whether the words have always been offensive and/or whether the meaning has changed over time.

Posh Test
Take the chav and posh test here, then consider, did you change your real answer and input a different answer for fear of the outcome?

Alien Tatto and Skeleton on back of head
Man gets a Zune tattoo
Studio Makeup Academy
Styled hair
Consider the images on these website of different types of body modifications — tattoos, make-up and hair. How extreme do you rate each of these?

7. Cultural Context and Practices

Grafitti Tour@Conflux
Try to identify the kinds of message we might receive if we went on the graffiti tour in this video. Consider not just the graffiti but other elements you can see in the video.

Survey Monkey
Create a survey about shopping habits here and see if you can spot a trend in the answers between people of different genders and ages.

The Real Estate Test
At this site you can draw a house and see what your drawing says about your personality. When you have drawn your house, compare it to several others. Are there any similarities? Does your house look anything like your ‘real’ house? Does it look like the cultural archetype for ‘house’ or ‘home’?

Pimp My Ride Photos
Look at a selection of the car photos from Pimp My Ride in the US. What do these cars communicate about their owners, both before and after they’ve been pimped?

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Look at these two different groups, one an informal crowd of people, the other a formal group. For each group think about how they might treat each other differently because of the circumstances they are in. Is there more likely to be conflict in an informal or formal group? Which group would be better at communicating with each other?

From the two groups you looked at who are the:

Work & Careers
Consider the webpage above. What does it tell us about our society’s view of work and good or bad jobs?

8. Doing the Coursework

bestessaytips.com Essay Writing Tips
custom-essay.org Essay Writing Tips
Some different approaches to essay writing.

9. Passing examinations

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Look at this picture for a minute and then turn away. See how many items and their colours you can remember. Which ones in particular stood out in your mind and why? How did you go about remembering them?

Nine Tips to Productive Revision
Exam Revision Tips

Some helpful revision tips to help you prepare for the exam.