Encoding and Decoding

Contemporary semioticians refer to the creation and interpretation of texts as 'encoding' and 'decoding' respectively. 
In 1973, Stuart Hall published a paper entitled 'Encoding/ Decoding'. This had a major influence on cultural studies, the essay takes up and challenges long held assumptions on how media messages are produced, circulated and consumed proposing a new theory of communication. Stuart Hall's model claims that all media audiences are presented with messages that are decoded or interpreted in different ways, all depending on an individual's background, culture, economic standing and personal experiences. He advanced the idea that audience members can play an active role in decoding messages because they rely on their own social contexts, and might be capable of changing messages themselves through collective action.

Decoding- How audience members interpret messages on a page

Encoding- The actual written words on a page and the production of the message

In Stuart Hall's essay he advances a four-stage model of communication that takes into account the production, circulation, use and reproduction of media messages.

These four stages are:

1- Production- This is where the encoding of a message takes place. The creator of the message in the magazine (this will be me) is feeding off of society's beliefs, and values. In this case looking at other magazines and how they encode a message to their target audience.

2- Circulation- How individuals perceive things

3- Use- This is the decoding of a message

4- Reproduction- This the stage after the audience have interpreted the message in their own way based on their experiences and beliefs. At this point, you will see whether individuals take action after they have been exposed to a specific message. 

When I make my music magazine I will encode messages for the readers to decode. One of my sell lines is about the scam of festival tickets this is encoded however my target audience could decode the message in a negative way and will be very careful when buying tickets. Also the model that I have is very young so people could decode this and think about how they could become her.