Challenging key certainties in communication through Elleström’s medium-centred1 model of communication: ‘Transfer’ and ‘medium’

Abstract

Communication has long been seen as an exchange of information, messages and/or meaning. According to Elleström’s medium-centred model of communication, communication is a process where cognitive imports from producer’s mind(s) are transferred to perceiver’s mind(s) through an intermediate stage/media product. It is here argued that, despite the fact that the latter model phenomenally adheres to the Saussurean ‘speech circuit’ paradigm, it also hints towards a reconsideration of the basics of communication. Through critically addressing the constants in the medium-centred model, and adopting as a point of entry that of the media product, most communication constants are challenged, while new aporias emerge. Gibson’s ecology of perception (2015) and Féral’s theatricality of the gaze (2002) are introduced as catalysts in a discussion that attempts to systematize such considerable implications, addressing potential overlaps between perception, communication and mediation.