A deep and penetrating exploration of the key concepts of information and communications sciences by one of its founders, this book covers everything in its subject that you want to know more about including the bedrock topics of signs, symbols, information, and communication, all considered from an historical and foundational perspective that is satisfying to the beginning student and worthwhile for practitioners of long standing. All the major players are given their role, from Shannon and Weaver to Tim Berners-Lee, with Marshall McLuhan an engaging participant. Communication in all its forms—be it print or electronic media, mass communication as well as person-to-person messaging, whether by mail, telephone, gesture, or email—is thoroughly examined in this book, which can serve as either an introductory text to undergraduates in information science, an interesting read for the layman, or as a refresher for the communications professional.

Using a developmental approach to the process of criticism, Making Sense of Messages serves as an introduction to rhetorical criticism for communication majors. The text employs models of criticism to offer pointed and reflective commentary on the thinking process used to apply theory to a message. This developmental/apprenticeship approach helps students understand the thinking process behind critical analysis and aids in critical writing.

Analyzing Media Messages provides a comprehensive and comprehensible guide to conducting content analysis research. It establishes a formal definition of quantitative content analysis; gives step-by-step instruction on designing a content analysis study; and explores in depth research questions that recur in content analysis, in such areas as measurement, sampling, reliability, data analysis, validity, and technology. This Second Edition maintains the concise, accessible approach of the first edition while offering an updated discussion and new examples. The goal of this resource is to make content analysis understandable, and to produce a useful guide for novice and experienced researchers alike. Accompanied by detailed, practical examples of current and classic applications, this volume is appropriate for use as a primary text for content analysis coursework, or as a supplemental text in research methods courses. It is also an indispensable reference for researchers in mass communication fields, political science, and other social and behavioral sciences.

This book introduces theological hermeneutics by giving a historical account of the development of hermeneutical thinking. It defines hermeneutics as the analysis of the obstacles to understanding. The history of hermeneutical thinking and responses to obstacles is told here, beginning with the allegorical interpretation of myths in Hellenism through to the contemporary view of the hermeneutical problem as universal. Following the opening chapters on the history of hermeneutical thought, the book presents an overview of the various contemporary hermeneutical schools of thought, and shows their rooted-ness in different parts of the hermeneutical tradition. The focus is clearly on biblical interpretation however it does also take account of developments outside the field of theology, as they influence the theological reflection on the hermeneutical problem. The questions raised and the possible answers suggested in this volume will be of interest to students of other disciplines, such as philosophy and literature.

Some of us may believe that interpersonal communication is a matter of common sense or that skillful communication is an innate ability that you either have or you don’t. In this text, Denise Solomon and Jennifer Theiss demonstrate that interpersonal communication skills are not just common sense; nor are they mysterious qualities that defy learning. Interpersonal Communication: Putting Theory into Practice draws on theory and research in the interpersonal communication discipline to help you identify strategies to improve your communication skills. Denise and Jen introduce interpersonal communication as a subject of scientific research that has enormous relevance to your daily lives. You will learn to use what researchers have discovered about interpersonal communication to improve your own ability to communicate well. You will also read about contemporary research in interpersonal communication, a foundation for establishing skill-building tips. In making research accessible, Denise and Jen show that communication scholars tackle important questions that have real-life relevance, and they dispel myths about interpersonal communication. A touchstone throughout this book is a commitment to topics and applications that can help you in many different situations and throughout your life. The companion website provides self-assessment quizzes, video interviews with scholars, and more. When you have finished reading this text, you will be better prepared to communicate effectively in all areas of your world, with skills and understanding that you can use to improve your interactions with the people around you.

The Work of Communication: Relational Perspectives on Working and Organizing in Contemporary Capitalism revolves around a two-part question: "What have work and organization become under contemporary capitalism—and how should organization studies approach them?" Changes in the texture of capitalism, heralded by social and organizational theorists alike, increasingly focus attention on communication as both vital to the conduct of work and as imperative to organizational performance. Yet most accounts of communication in organization studies fail to understand an alternate sense of the "work of communication" in the constitution of organizations, work practices, and economies. This book responds to that lack by portraying communicative practices—as opposed to individuals, interests, technologies, structures, organizations, or institutions—as the focal units of analysis in studies of the social and organizational problems occasioned by contemporary capitalism. Rather than suggesting that there exists a canonically "correct" route communicative analyses must follow, The Work of Communication: Relational Perspectives on Working and Organizing in Contemporary Capitalism explores the value of transcending longstanding divides between symbolic and material factors in studies of working and organizing. The recognition of dramatic shifts in technological, economic, and political forces, along with deep interconnections among the myriad of factors shaping working and organizing, sows doubts about whether organization studies is up to the vital task of addressing the social problems capitalism now creates. Kuhn, Ashcraft, and Cooren argue that novel insights into those social problems are possible if we tell different stories about working and organizing. To aid authors of those stories, they develop a set of conceptual resources that they capture under the mantle of communicative relationality. These resources allow analysts to profit from burgeoning interest in notions such as sociomateriality, posthumanism, performativity, and affect. It goes on to illustrate the benefits that investigations of work and organization can realize from communicative relationality by presenting case studies that analyze (a) the becoming of an idea, from its inception to solidification, (b) the emergence of what is taken to be the "the product" in high-tech startup entrepreneurship, and (c) the branding of work (in this case, academic writing and commercial aviation) through affective economies. Taken together, the book portrays "the work of communication" as simultaneously about how work in the "new economy" revolves around communicative practice and about how communication serves as a mode of explanation with the potential to cultivate novel stories about working and organizing. Aimed at academics, researchers, and policy makers, this book’s goal is to make tangible the contributions of communication for thinking about contemporary social and organizational problems.

Here are the refereed proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Text, Speech and Dialogue, TSD 2006. The book presents 87 revised full papers together with 2 invited papers reviewing state-of-the-art research in the field of natural language processing. Coverage ranges from theoretical and methodological issues to applications with special focus on corpora, texts and transcription, speech analysis, recognition and synthesis, as well as their intertwining within NL dialogue systems.

The symbolic value of targets is what differentiates terrorism from other forms of extreme violence. Terrorism is designed to inflict deep psychological wounds on an enemy rather than demolish its material ability to fight. The September 11, 2001 attacks, for example, demonstrated the power of symbolism. The World Trade Center was targeted by Al Qaeda because the Twin Towers epitomized Western civilization, U.S. imperialism, financial success, modernity, and freedom. The symbolic character of terrorism is the focus of this textbook. A comprehensive analysis, it incorporates descriptions, definitions, case studies, and theories. Each chapter focuses on a specific dimension of symbolism in terrorism and explains the contexts and processes that involve the main actors as well as the symbolism of both the purposes and targets of terrorism. Also discussed are new religious movements, which represent another important aspect of terrorism, such as Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese cult that used sarin gas in the Tokyo subway in 1995. Over forty areas of symbolism are covered throughout the chapters, including physical and non-physical symbolism, linguistic symbolism, the social construction of reality, rituals, myths, performative violence, iconoclasm, brand management, logos, semiotics, new media, and the global village. This allows for an in-depth examination of many issues, such as anti-globalization, honor killing, religious terrorism, suicide terrorism, martyrdom, weapons, female terrorism, public communication, visual motifs, and cyberspace. Main concepts are clearly defined, and followed by theory illustrated by international case studies. Chapter summaries, key points, review questions, research and practice suggestions are recurring components as well. This groundbreaking text encompasses all major aspects of symbolism in terrorism and will be an essential resource for anyone studying terrorism.

This book examines how the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, a speculative philosopher from the first half of the twentieth century, converses and entangles itself with continental philosophers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries around the question of a sustainable civilization in the present. Chapters are focused around economic and environmental sustainability, questions of how technology and systems relate to this sustainability, relationships between human and nonhuman entities, relationships among humans, and how larger philosophical questions lead one to think differently about what the terms sustainable and civilization mean. The book aims to uncover and explore ways in which the combination of these philosophies might provide the “dislocations” within thought that lead to novel ways of being and acting in the world.

The first two volumes on patrimonialism in Ugarit and the ancient Near East, this book opens with a lengthy introduction on the interpretation of social action and households in the ancient world. Following this foundation, Schloen embarks on a societal and domestic study of the Late Bronze Age kingdom of Ugarit in its wider Near Eastern context.