7 Branching Communication Hierarchies
The proposed definition of communication systems as complementary informative
processes enables one to accurately model and understand a range of communication
phenomena. With this model, we can describe and predict the characteristics
of previously unstudied systems. While the linear hierarchy presented above captures
simple communication environments, the usefulness of the model may be
improved significantly if we allow a single process to have multiple processes beneath
it (which we refer to as multiple feet) and multiple processes above a single
process (which we refer to as multiple heads). Doing this allows claims to be
made about multiple heads and feet that more closely reflect the complexity of
real world settings. In addition, graph theoretic communication models may be
applied to complex structures, providing a wider range of both quantitative and
qualitative models of communication.
Consider that the author might be able to communicate with you through
this publication, or through email, hand-written correspondence, or by telephone.
Each different medium can be represented by a different foot. The author’s language
component can be understood as having below it several feet, each consisting
of one or more communication processes connecting the author and the
reader.
Modeling social communication systems may be facilitated by using multiple
“feet” in the model. A group of people having a particular relationship is
referred to as a social network, which may be studied qualitatively [Cha92] or
quantitatively [WF94]. The study of social networks can be viewed as the study
of which processing feet exist for each individual and what other feet in what
other hierarchies individuals use for communication. For example, assume that
each individual has a hierarchy and that there are three levels on each hierarchy:
high (H), medium (M), and low(L):