Effective communication hinges on a deep understanding and deliberate analysis of context, encompassing both the opportune timing (kairos) and the appropriate location or medium (where) for a message.
Mind Map
Click to expand
Click to explore the full interactive mind map • Zoom, pan, and navigate
imagine you just got a big award after
only a few months in your new job or you
just hit a huge pothole when you'd
already forgotten your lunch that day
when the odds stack up in or out of our favor
favor
it might send a scrambling to figure out
why you may have heard the explanation I
was in the right place at the right time
or more ominously I was in the wrong
place at the wrong time these
expressions focus on instances when
timing and location really affect our
outcomes just a slight change in my
driving route might have saved me
hundreds of dollars after all timing and
location are part of context the factors
that shape a particular situation
context not only influences our world
but also determines the range of
possibilities that can happen in it
context is an important rhetorical
concept because deliberately examining
our location and timing can help us
become more effective communicators we
want to give our messages as much
thought and care as we can so we'll work
to break down context into some of its
most useful parts today in study hall
composition presented by Arizona State
University and crash course I'm yumna
we already have an intuitive sense of
opportune or particularly good times and
places for our messages if your friend
just found out she didn't get a part in
the spring musical you probably know
better than to brag about your good
grade on a test still many of us have
made a context mistake before we looked
back and thought for example asking my
friend about her audition right when she
saw the cast list was probably not the
best call since she started crying and
tore up her monologue
yikes context analysis lets us build on
her intuition and look more thoroughly
at what is possible and likely to
succeed in a given context there are two
ways to think about the when of a text
that we're writing both come from Greek
word Chronos is what we think of as
clock time which has to do with duration
sequence dates all the normal time stuff
it moves at a steady rate tick tick tick
you get the drill
Kairos on the other hand is the
opportune time it arrives unpredictably
as the right combination of a bunch of
factors communication that occurs at the
right Kairat ik moment may have failed
any other time for example consider an
employee deciding when to tell their
boss that they've decided to go back to
school which could throw off their
employers future plans and damage their
relationships sure they can send an
announcement at any time but there are a
few considerations of timing that can
make the conversation go better there
are basic Chronos related choices if
they send the announcement to their boss
at 2:00 a.m. it'll be awhile before she
sees it plus she might wonder why it was
sent at such an off kilter time sending
it during work hours
or saying it to their boss during a
one-on-one meeting should go better for
them but the chaotic moment goes beyond
the time of day it might be better to
announce that they're leaving after
getting a glowing performance review
instead of right after taking a two-week
vacation that left a bunch of coworkers
scrambling who knows if their boss is
feeling happy when she hears the news
she might consider letting them work
part-time or write a great
recommendation for their next job when
writing we should think about larger
cultural and political moments that
affect whether this is the right time
for a message too if that employees
industry has started requiring master's
degrees for advancement in the field
their employer might be less surprised
by their choice to go back to school
timing really can be everything but
context is more than just the when it's
also the where of the text the we're
like the KY Roddick when can involve
factors like culture or geography for in
the resume or CV you submit for a job
application will look a little different
depending on your industry and your
physical location cultural expectations
in different places govern weather
including photograph or personal
information like your hobbies on your
resume is standard or too casual
cultural location can also determine
whether to include slang in your writing
while geographical location might
determine whether you can use email or
have to rely on snail mail however the
most impactful aware of your writing is
often the writing medium or the place
where you're writing occurs or a share
that location includes things like
Twitter or the New York Times front page
or your college application website not
just Nova Scotia or Cape Town or room
212 your University consider Twitter as
an example the word limit on tweets
restrains the way that we write Twitter
users may know the feeling of being just
over the character count and going back
to cut out parts of their tweet suddenly
we have to decide whether to be is or is
not to be we literally write differently
because of where we're writing and if
you choose to make a longer message
Twitter does have the option to thread
your tweets but if you don't do that
your messages will appear out of order
on people's time lines making your rant
about how chip bags are 60% air and 0%
chips nearly impossible to understand
not sticking with the implied rules of
your medium can ruin your message
Marshall McLuhan a twentieth-century
media theorist expanded on this idea and
made the radical point the medium is the message
message
McLuhan point is that your message is
altered and in many ways actually
determined by the way you share it with others
others
think about it a host reading a four
sentence news story about a hurricane in
a sleepy voice on a public radio station
is going to have a very different effect
than a reporter saying the same
information over the howling winds on
live TV same words totally different
message our messages aren't just
influenced by the way that we convey
them the media creates the range of
possibilities imagine you write for a
humor website full of satirical articles
if you become really invested in a save
the sea turtles campaign the very fact
that your website is satirical will
limit how much you can publicize it
people come to the site for Laughs and
critiques so they might think your
praise of the campaign in that context
means the opposite you might have to
find another medium entirely in order to
share your passion and get the response
you want that's how much the medium is
the message context encompasses II
more than these when and where factors
so we're going to keep talking about
them in our next video for now let's
turn to a technique that will help us
sort out the timing and location of our
writing playing the counterfactual game
counterfactual fancy as it sounds just
means something that isn't the case this
strategy is a way of thinking about a
particular situation as if certain
elements were different to see if those
elements would change the impact or
consequences of your writing to play the
counterfactual game first take a sheet
of paper or a new file on your computer
and write what you want to say at the
top then create two columns one for when
and one for where write down every
factor you can think of that might
influence how your message is received
based on those two categories
keep in mind Kairos or opportune timing
as well as the medium cultural and
physical location from there circle the
most important factors the ones you
believe will influence your messages
reception the most write your message at
the bottom of the page or on a new sheet
addressing that context yes this will
look different for each kind of message
for instance posting your save the sea
turtles campaign on a satire website
versus a news website will have a bigger
impact on your message then whether you
send it at 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. now
rewrite your message a few times
imagining a different situation using
the items on your list a new location a
new medium of communication or a new
timing as you're working through various
versions of the message you'll see what
factors are changing it the most those
factors are the writing tasks critical
context the factors we most want to take
into account recognizing these factors
can lead you to make a change to your
writing plan
maybe you'll choose a different location
or timing depending on which rewritten
version seems most likely to get your
message across let's see how this works
for a writer in action divya writes
content for the marketing department at
rockin and rollin a direct-to-consumer
rocking chair retailer when her boss
asks her for new slogans for future
marketing campaigns she decides to play
the counterfactual game she grabs a
piece of paper and writes you should buy
our rocking chairs above her two columns
for when and where first she writes down
all the wind actors the premiere of a
new interior design show could provide a
chaotic moment for a TV ad she circles
June and September the months when
people tend to move since many people
buy new furniture when they get
place second she writes all the where
factors she can think of from cultural
associations of rocking chairs with
people who have time on their hands to
wear her company could advertise
billboards furniture stores and
magazines she circles housekeeping
magazines the factor that really gets
her attention then she writes a few
versions of slogans comparing how her
favorite take time to get to know each
other works is a 10 second Instagram
story versus a two-page spread and wrap
around porch digest looking at the
changes she's made to her slogan she
realizes that seasonal timing is key
since the slogan makes more sense for
front porch rocking and circles it she
also sees that her slogan works best in
media with space for a beautiful picture
of a porch like the housekeeping
magazines she originally circled these
key contextual factors inform her as she
finalizes her slogan idea her boss is
impressed with the strength of the
option she presents he thinks her ideas
can help rockin and rollin expand into
new times and locations to advertise
Divya is a writer in action intuitively
taking context into account when rewrite
is good but thinking deliberately and
systematically about it is even better
we uncover possibilities and limitations
that might not occur to us at first and
we can work with contextual factors to
create more purposeful text our context
analysis skills affect whether we're
successful in a particular writing
project they also help us avoid being in
the wrong place at the wrong time which
you know is a pretty bad place to be and
kind of cliche to join us next time when
we dig deeper into the idea of the
medium as the message discussing the how
and what of communication with context
thanks for watching study hall
composition which is produced by Arizona
State University and the crash course
team at complexly if you liked this
video and want to keep learning with us
here in study hall be sure to subscribe
you can learn more about ASU and the
video is produced by crash course in the
links in the description see you next time
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
