Venue-oriented Communication

These are sites in which indigenous communication, particularly as opposed to other forms take place. Of course, communication is a continuing activity that is not limited to any site. However, this postulation is important because it differentiates communication processes in this mode from others. Two points worth considering also are the structure of the communication process and its accessibility. Ansu-kyeremeh categorises conversations and communication in this mode into “structured and unstructured”: Structured when information is conveyed based on the direction of an authority figure such as chiefs, paramount rulers etc. and unstructured when it is informal involving the active involvement of all participants with no restriction whatsoever. As regards accessibility Doob identifies geographic and social categories and these may either be facilitating or restricting factors. While geographic deals with physical movement to sites where communication takes place; social deals with level of participation based on age, sex, and other demographic factors. It involves habitation patterns where the mores, values, and way of life of each community are communicated to new members through the words and deeds of older members in the home environment. Markets, whose primary purpose is buying and selling of goods but that also exhibit communication function is within the ambit of this chapter.