Dissemination
Etymology
Latin disseminatus, past participle of disseminare, from dis- + seminare to sow, from semin-, semen seed — more at semen
- Date: 1566
Definitions
- 1 : to spread abroad as though sowing seed <disseminate ideas>
- 2 : to disperse throughout
Description
To disseminate, in terms of the field of communication, it means to broadcast a message to the public without direct feedback from the audience. Dissemination takes on the theory of the traditional view of communication, which involves a sender and receiver. The traditional communication view point is broken down into a sender sending information, and receiver collecting the information processing it and sending information back, like a telephone line.
With dissemination, only half of this communication model theory is applied. The message carrier sends out information, not to one individual, but many in a broadcasting system. An example of this transmission of information is in fields of advertising, public announcements, and speeches. Another way to look at dissemination is that of which it derives from the Latin roots, the scattering of seeds. These seeds are metaphors for voice or words. To spread voice, words, and opinion to an audience. Dissemination can be powerful when adding rhetoric or other forms of persuasiveness to the speech.
