Media Determinism.

Media vehicles are very important!
No, i am not referring to public transport, but i am talking about the medium that "transports" media messages.

Marshall McLuhan argues that the medium in which a message is transmitted, is much more important than the message itself.
He says that the medium has the power to change the way we live and experience the world.

I once assumed that, to advertise or bring forward a message, the more technologically advanced the media medium is, the more effective and productive results you can achieve.

I realised that i was wrong!
Well, it was not how advanced the medium was, it was the choice of which is the optimal medium that would prove the point of the above sentence.
Using the right medium, to convey the right message to the right people, which will most probably achieve the ideal results.

Therefore, YES! i totally agree that "The medium is the message. "It is how we deliver. =D

Intercultural Communication.

Racial harmony day celebration in Secondary school, where i wore an indian Sari.
A cultural dance performance where we wore batik skirts for a malay dance.
A dinner and dance event that required me to model in a Cheongsam.
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Intercultural communication. What comes to your mind first when you see this word?
There are many definitions of the word "culture".

In short, it is simply " cultures are templates for living".
Or to further emphasize, it is defined as "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another...includes systems of values and values are among the building blocks of culture." by Geert Hofstede.

Living in Singapore,we are a society with many races and thus, we have a very mixed culture here because of the different people who are born here or moved here to live.

Each and every individual has their own set of identity and culture develops from their way of living.
We tend to take on a somewhat common culture when we live in the same country for some time.
An example is, Singaporean's first language being English, second language being either Chinese/Malay/Tamil( based on mainstream schools Mother Tongue language) and third language being, Singlish(for the majority).

I'm so used to hearing all the "la", "lo", "leh" in my daily life, everywhere i go.
So much so that, when i travelled to Taiwan for a holiday trip in April this year, i was so happy to hear a few Singaporean guys speaking Singlish. Somehow, it felt like i was back home..in Singapore:)

Knowing about different cultures would also help, when you're immersed in a new environment.
For example, Taiwanese all stand on one side of the escalator, so that those who are rushing can walk down "smoothly without people blocking".
Knowing the culture of the country you are visiting ,is important so that you will not offend and not be offended by the locals there.

To end off this entry, i just wanted to say that i appreciate and enjoy living in Singapore, whereby its a multi-racial country and i can embrace various cultures and soak in the atmosphere of various festivals. : )

Group communication.

Just 2 simple photographs of what i observed to be an example of group communication.
Regardless of age, you can see that the characteristics of groups are:
1) Interaction.
2) Interdependence.
3) Shared behavioural standards.
4) Collective identity.
This post will be on group communication.
A group is "a collection of individuals who, as a result of interacting with one another over time, become interdependent, developing shared patterns of behaviour and a collective identity" - Trenholm(2004)

Group synergy is when a group comes together and accomplish what an individual cannot accomplish or find it hard to.

I strongly believe that everyone plays a part in a group.
It takes two hands to clap,with more hands, the louder the "sound".
To produce that clapping sound, every individual will fit into specific roles to form this cohesive group.

The roles range from people who are task orientated to those who take on maintance roles, seeing the welfare needs of the group and individuals met, and groupthink.

Identifying the first 5 stages of the Mark Knapp Model of Relational development.

Video used and Song used= I'm crazy for this girl(by: Evan and Jaron)– movie chosen: 50 First Dates.

Mark Knapp Model of relational development is one of the most influential models of relationships. It maps the progression and development of relationships as a series of 10 stages in the two phases of "growing deeper" and "dissolving".

I will briefly explain about the first 5 stages of the "coming together phase" of the Knapp Model of Relational Development.

Stage 1: The initiating stage.
Screening and filtering will take place between people, whereby the parties involved will present themselves in a favourable light to give a good impression. They will look out for cues as to whether to engage in further interactions and if it is alright to do so, they will try to keep communication channels open.Communication topics and conversations are kept shallow and "on the surface" because parties don't know each other well yet.

[If things go smoothly and the evaluations during the first stage is positive, the couple will move on to stage 2.]

Stage 2: The experimenting stage.
The parties involved will communicate "small talk", which is phatic communication that will uncover topics for future expansion of conversations. They will find a common ground to begin to build their friendship/relationship.

Stage 3: The intensifying stage.
There are more and deeper self-disclosure of feelings to the other party. There is an increase in commitment and participation in each other's lives.

Stage 4: The integrating stage.
The individuals "merge" to become an official couple to the public as their social circles merge. This is the stage whereby there is the coupling of individual characters into a relational unit.

Stage 5: The bonding stage.
This is the time that couples will formalize or legitimize the commitment towards each other by a significant public ritual, example: marriage.

Now let us "break down" and analyse the video in sections, i have listed the timings during different parts of the movie that exemplifies the stages 1-5 below.

From timings, [0.09-0.44] and [2.29-2.51] = stage 1 .We can see the lead actor trying various ways and means in different situations to approach the lead actress and get to know her.

From timings, [0.45-0.54] = stage 2.

From timings, [0.55-1.54] and [2.04-2.28] = stage 3 & 4. We can see them spending time together as a couple.

From timings, [1.55-2.02] and [2.53-3.04] = stage 5. We can see that the lead actress was carrying her daughter in her arms. Next,was that she realizes that she was wearing a wedding band when she woke up,and they showed a scene of the wedding ceremony of the lead actor and actress.

I hope you have enjoyed the short video of the movie and understood the 5 stages of Mark Knapp Model of relational development! : D

Interpersonal communication and how nonverbal cues are displayed in a relationship.

Interpersonal communication is meant to describe communication between people who have already established a friendship or relationship.
Communication is part and parcel of our daily lives. It is something social beings cannot do without, especially in the context of a couple in love.

I will be touching on the topic of Non verbal communication and also, Interpersonal relationships between a couple in love.

Here's a brief sypnosis of this taiwan drama that i personally liked. 败犬女王: Queen Of No Marriage

One of the most gripping Taiwanese idol dramas in 2009, the story revolves the heart-tugging romance of Taiwan’s hottest idol Ethan Ruan and sexy Cheryl Yang! Yang plays a career-minded single woman who feels like a loser in love, while carefree youth Ruan looks up to her as a queen! This pair, a thirty-something career woman and a twenty-something working youth who somehow met at the same crossroad in life. Strong, independent, and hardworking, editor Wu Shuang (Cheryl Yang) is an ace in the office, and every boss's dream employee. Though she's a bit clueless in daily life, she makes more than enough money to support herself. But entering into her 33rd year of life, Wu Shuang suddenly realizes she has unknowingly become an old maid who's unmarried. Will their relationship blossom in the end despite belonging to two different worlds?

Now watch this short video of the last few episodes.
We can see from this video that the female lead has come to realise that her ex-boyfriend did not "abandon" her, instead he was actually hurt in an accident that stopped him from coming back to find her.

From this perspective, we can see that communication is very important in a relationship, especially for the maintenance of it.
If only the two of them kept in contact, and the male came back to Taipei to look for her, they would probably be happily married already.
Therefore, love is best expressed through an amiable and sincere form of interpersonal communication. Interpersonal communication between a couple in love is a kind of dyadic communication that develops over time.

Secondly, we can see that there were many non verbal cues, like eye contact (Oculesics) and their body language that people can spot being used in the video.
Her teary eyed look shows her emotions, her actions of jumping into the water towards him to show her acknowledgment of his love. When the video played a flashback to their memories together, the part where they rubbed each others hands to keep warm showed each other's display of affection.



Dr. Nathaniel Branden quoted: “Romantic-love relationships are made or broken by the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of communication. The essence of mutual self-disclosure is communication. And no element of communication is more important to romantic love than that of feelings and emotions”.

Perception based ads that speaks to target audiences.

I'm sure we are all very familiar with these telecommunication logos, because we probably see them on our monthly subscription slips/bill payments and so on.

These ads retained the telecommunication companies corporate identifiable colour ,which is an important aspect of branding.
It helps customers to recognise and achieve that sense of familiarity with the respective company.
Basically, the respective logos are trying to say, we speak your language. Be it verbal or non-verbal. You can always identify yourself with us, recognise us and feel at home.

Below is a video of an event that was shown on [ 财经追击-Money Week]. Please watch: )

Personally, i felt that Amara Hotel came up with a wonderful idea of hiring models (i was one of them!) to dress up to suit the sports theme in conjunction with the Beijing Olympics last year, 8th-24th August, and also introduced new Beijing side dishes to fit the "Olympic atmosphere".



What makes this successful, is all thanks to their marketing team.
They do provide a significant impact to consumers, especially to the tourists or simply the people who patronise the Amara Hotel's Lounge.
They are consumers who wish to have a drink, some light snacks and simply, relax and enjoy the ambience.
Thus, i felt that this organized event, was successful in speaking to its target audience.

Ads have effectively brought across the point of how individual consumer's different perceptions colour the way they see the world and also, the ad campaigns that they are
exposed to.

Communicating to an "unspoken" audience.

There are a few communication models that are made up of the fundamental communication processes. The three that are discussed in school are the linear, interactive and transactional models which shows a range of "simple" to "complex" communication methods employed respectively.

Some months back, i modelled for a singtel print advertisement and it was published in the local chinese newspapers, Lianhe Wanbao.
Newspapers are an example of employing the linear model, it is very much a one-way communication flow.

When i saw a copy of the advertisement in the newspapers, i was glad to see that the advertisement looked presentable.
My family and friends agreed that it was a well-taken photograph which displayed a homely feel between the models and also, us enjoying our food.

Well, all these feedback and comments were definitely not heard by the advertisers or those involved in publishing the newspaper.
Therefore, this is an example of a linear model of communication.

I would also like to touch on the topic of human emotions, which is the logic of pathos, whereby it appeals to one's emotional side.

This advertisement mainly brings out the feeling of home to the viewer and reader's hearts. That warm, fuzzy, loving feeling can be seen evidently in the photograph that captures a setting of five friends having an enjoyable meal together.

With this photograph, it shows the link between the purchasing of a singtel Hi-card and how the product will benefit and strengthen friendships and relationships.

Thus, applying the logic of pathos into an advertisement is a great way to tug at the heart strings of viewers and readers.