SOME THOUGHTS ON THE CONCEPT OF FORM

Form is one of the words which helps us understand what is meant when it is said that language is inherently ambiguous. Form could refer to SHAPE or GENERAL STRUCTURE. For example, you could refer to the general form or structure of a book, or you could use the word to refer to the figure of a person, (e.g. he or she has a nice form). Form could refer to ARRANGEMENT OR STYLE (e. g. most important to least important, most exciting to least interesting). Form could define the outside edges and the internal parts of an object or an outline, a picture, a basketball game.  There are always multiples ways to define a concept.

• Form could refer to a MOLD, PATTERN, OR MODEL.
• It something has form it has shape. It might refer to how a essay is put together.
• It might refer to how a newscast is patterned.
• It might refer to how an a piece of clay is molded or given shape.

DEFINITION BY TYPE

Form can be used to describe a PARTICULAR KIND, TYPE, OR MODE. For example, there are different modes of discourse, there are different types of mediums, there are different forms of poetry. Mediums of communication can and usually are defined by the dominant form which their messages take (e.g. oral, print, visual, televisual, and computer-mediated). Form could refer to the general goal of a medium or a message )e.g. entertainment, information, persuasion).

Form could refer to a specific type of television programming, because certain types of programming usually have certain qualities or characteristics which define the generic form. For example, the nightly news, a talk show, and a situation comedy could be defined as forms because they are all generally organized, patterned, and/or framed in a similar way.

In this sense a film genre is usually characterized not only by similar message content and themes, but also by similar structures.

For example, the genre referred to as "the western" (e.g. Pale Rider) usually follows a distinctive form:

• a hero, sometimes flawed, tries to live a righteous and moral life
• villains appear on the scene who threaten the moral order
• the hero must make the villains "aware of their limitations"

To understand the concept of form in mass communication, it might be useful to think of form in terms of two types-general and specific.

At a general level human expression can take general forms such oral, print, and visual. Human expression when amplified by technology can take general forms such as audio, televisual, and computer-mediated.

At a more specific level the medium of television, might have different types of programs which follow a certain pattern or model e.g. situation comedy, talk show, nightly news, and/or commercial.

At an ever more specific level the form of a nightly newscast is comprised of six or seven stories and 15-25 commercials.

At an even more specific level each news story often follows a certain pattern (e.g. anchor leads story, anchor hands off to correspondent, correspondent talks, anchor asks correspondent question, correspondent answers, anchors closes story).

DEFINITION BY COMPONENT PARTS

To understand the form of something we often try to identify its component parts. For example, USA Today is defined by its form, it's component parts are:

• Nation
• Lifestyle
• Money
• Sports.

A public presentation generally has an introduction, a residual message or main points, and a conclusion.

A drama may have a prologue, a certain number of acts, and a epilogue.

A visual image has form, it is comprised of dots, lines, and shapes (parallelograms (squares/rectangles, circles, and triangles).

DEFINITION BY PROCESS

Form could refer to the process of how we structure messages. For example, in constructing an essay or a public presentation one must give the message form. One must engage in the process of organizing and framing the message (e.g. we may choose to organize a presentation using a problem-solution scheme or a narrative/chronological scheme).

The word could refer to the process of thinking in the sense that people FORM their opinions, in other words, when people perceive information they have to organize it and fit it into the existing cognitive structures in their heads which we all use to process information.

For example, I have constructs in my head which tell me that a friend is honest vs. deceptive, dependable vs. irresponsible, and other-centered vs. self-centered.

When I meet a new person I process information about that person in terms of whether there is a good fit between the information I perceive and my cognitive structures which define what a friend is.

DEFINITION BY NEGATION

• Form is not necessarily the way a message is communicated to an audience.
• The concept of form does not specifically mean how a medium is used.
• Form is not specifically the way a message goes from sender to receiver
• Form does not explain the way a message is distributed.
• The concept of form is not specifically how the public receives their messages.
• Form is the not specifically the type of way we see something.
• It is probably not correct to say that forms take the place of mediums.

The form of a message can be understand by trying to understand that there is a difference between the form of a message and the substance or content of a message.

The content of a message generally denotes a specific concrete statement about the world.

Form does not refer to the substance or content of a message, yet it is difficult to separate form and content. For example, a sentence is comprised or words, and there are linguistic rules which tell us how  words should be organized, hence, sentence structure. A sentence which does not follow linguistic rules for putting words together would have no form or structure.

Yet one can understand the meaning of words or groups of words independent of their form.

For example, the words in an essay have meaning regardless of how those words are structured or organized at a general level (e.g. problem-solution, comparison and contrast and so forth)

. The six or seven stories broadcast on the nightly news have a content which is independent of how the newscast, generally, or a story specifically, is organized or framed.

DEFINITION BY COMPONENT PARTS

For example, USA Today is defined by its form, it's component parts are Nation, Lifestyle, Money, and Sports.

Notice the form-cognition relationship. USA Today implicitly tells us how the world is organized, and how we should organize our thinking about the world.

It other words, the form or frame brackets the world, it includes something and not others, it directs our attention toward focusing on certain things and not others.

WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MESSAGE FORM AND MESSAGE CONTENT?

The aphorism "the medium is the message" refers to the way in which form can influence content. When Marshall McCluhan said that the "medium is the message" he was perhaps suggesting that the form of the medium determines the content of messages emanating from that particular form.

It is probably more reasonable to say that while the form of the message does not determine message substance, it can and does exert a significant influence on the content of messages which can issue from a particular form.

For example, the form of a nightly newscast will influence the content of messages which will likely be broadcast. However, while the form of the medium, and the form of the newscast constrain message content, they are not the only factors influencing message content i.e. the words which will be spoken, the pictures which will be shown.

For example, consider the McDonald's commercial in the Bill Moyers video Consuming Images. Because the message is designed for television, the televisual form and the form that commercials usually take call for a certain type of content.

The commercial is comprised of visual images which dramatize and visualize a family bonding at McDonald's. While at McDonald's they experience warmth, togetherness, and eating seems almost secondary to the glee and fun they seems to be experiencing by participating in the "McDonald's experience."

 Now change the form of the message, from televisual to print, and try to construct the same message content or substance.

It is certainly possible, to have a commercial without images and without talking, one could simply use a rolling graphic to describe in words the "McDonald's experience." For example, "the morning is bright and shinny, it is one of the bright summer mornings which makes you feel glad to be alive...it makes you think of the people who love you and who are the center of your life...It order to remind your family of the power and importance of love why not take them to McDonalds...The McDonald's experience is LOVE."

Consider the communication medium, smoke signals. The form of this medium would generally preclude having an argument, discussing philosophy, or trying to explain the relationship between form and content. Thus, the form of the medium does not dictate message content in a causal sense, but in many ways, "message designers must follow where the medium leads them."

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