COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Remote Learning Series 2020 – 2021

Module 1:
Overview of Communication

Press Start and Log in…

Read the Learning Outcomes of this Module.

At the end of the learning engagement, you should be able to:

1. Give a simple definition of communication.
2. Identify and explain the components of communication.
3. Give reasons why communication is considered a process.
4. Present a timeline of the history of communication.
5. Share experiences about communication at various levels or contexts.

Input and Share…

Twist Your Brain. Make your cerebral muscle work by answering the following brain
teasers.

1. Guess the next three letters in the series GTNTL. Answer: __________________________________
2. The number 8,549,176,320 is a unique number. What is so special about it?
Answer: ___________________________________________________________________________
3. I am the beginning of sorrow and the end of sickness. You cannot express happiness without me yet I
am in the midst of crosses. I am always in risk yet never in danger. You may find me in the sun, but I am
never out of darkness. Answer: __________________________
4. A man wanted to encrypt his password but he needed to do it in a way so that he could remember it.
He had to use seven characters consisting of letters and numbers only (no symbols like ! or <). In order
to remember it, he wrote down ―You force heaven to be empty.‖ What is his password?
Answer: ___________________________________________________________________________
5. A man wanted to work, but he could not log in to his computer terminal successfully. He tried twice,
but still his password did not work. He suddenly remembered that the passwords are reset every month
for security purposes. So, he called his boss and said, ―Hey boss, my password is out of date.‖
His boss replied, ―Yes, that‘s right. The password is different. Listen carefully. I am sure, you can figure
out the new one. The new one has the same amount of letters as your old password, but only four of the
letters are the same.‖ ‖Thanks, boss.‖ With that, the man could correctly log into his station. What are
both the new and old passwords? Answer: ________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
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 View and Say Something…
Use the Internet to watch the following video titled ―The Recipe for Great
Communication‖ at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFWsTsvJ8Xw. Then, write
a summary of the content of the video. Answer the questions as well.

Summary

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Quick Response. Which of the five ingredients do you think is the most important? Why?
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Aside from the ingredients mentioned in the video presentation, what one more do you think should be
added to make communication even greater? Explain substantially.
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 Link and Tell…
A. Positive and Negative. Complete the table as directed. Then share and compare
your results with class. Then answer the questions that follow.

Write a brief account of your communication Write a brief account of your communication
experience that produced positive results. experience that produced negative results.

Quick Response: Communication doesn‘t always have positive result. Why?

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Do you think your communication will have more positive results when it is carried out using available
new technology? Why or why not?
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B. My Communication Timeline. Draw or doodle a timeline of your communication from the day you
were born up to today. Divide your timeline into 5 parts, e.g. baby, toddler, pre-teen, etc. Describe your
communication by indicating the following: (1) manner/mode of communication, (2) people you usually
talked to, (3) content of your talk with them, (4) result of your interaction, etc. You can use drawings or
cut out pictures to illustrate every part of your communication timeline. Ask help from concerned persons
especially for information about the early years of your communication. Use the space provided below.
Bring out the artist in you! Have fun! Share your output with classmates.

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C. Trivia. Use the internet to find answers to the following questions about the history of communication.

Question Answer
1. What were the oldest known symbols created for the
purpose of communication?
2. Which two continents do historians and archaeologists,
by consensus, consider as the most popular choices for
the origins of language?
3. Which group of people developed cuneiform writing
consisting of pictographs of accounts written on clay
tablets?
4. Approximately 3,500 BC to approximately 2,900 BC
followed some of the most profound innovations in what
field of communication?
5. Which group of people developed the alphabet circa
1400-1250 BC in order to communicate with the diverse
cultures and tongues of their maritime trading partners?
6. Approximately 900 BC, in which country was the very
first postal service developed for government use?
7. In approximately 776 BC marked the first recorded use
of homing pigeons used to send message to the
Athenians. What was the purpose for the use of homing
pigeons?
8. What did Baron Schilling von Cannstatt successfully
demonstrate in his room on October 21, 1832?
9. What did Bell make on October 9, 1876?

10. On July 1, 1908, SOS became internationally

accepted. What does SOS mean?
11. On December 24, 1906 Reginald Fessenden made
the first radio audio broadcast which included playing on
the violin of which Christmas song?
12. On July 1, 1949 the world's first legal TV commercial
was aired for which brand of watch?
13. Who created and sent the first email on July 4, 1971?

14. Who sent the first SMS? What message did he text?

15. What did Sir Tim Berners-Lee invent in 1989?

16. When was Yahoo founded and incorporated? Who

are Yahoo‘s founders?
17. Who created the first Wiki? On January 15, 2001 who
launched Wikipedia, the most popular Wiki?
18. On February 4, 2004 Mark Zuckerberg launched
Facebook. What was the initial purpose for launching this
popular social networking site?
19. When did Google go public?

20. When and why was YouTube created? Who are its
creators?
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 Process and Save…
Interactive Lecture. Participate in the discussion of the key concepts about the
history of communication which have been mainly lifted from Mitel Networks Corp.
(2020) at https://www.mitel.com/articles/history-telecommunication.

THE NATURE OF COMMUNICATION

UNDERSTANDING COMMUNICATION AND THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Communication is a two-way process in which participants not only exchange ideas, feelings and
information but also create and share meaning for reaching mutual understanding. It is the exchange of
ideas, thoughts, messages, or the like, by speech, signals or writing. It is to express oneself in such a
way that one is readily and clearly understood. It is a process of conveying information from the sender
to the receiver with the use of the media in which the communicated information is understood
(Amudavalli).
Communication is the relational process of creating and interpreting messages that elicit a response
(Griffin, 2012).

FIVE FEATURES OF COMMUNICATION

Based on the operational definition of communication by Griffin (2012), here follows a brief discussion of
the five features of communication.

Messages
Messages are at the very core of communication study. University of Colorado communication professor
Robert Craig says that communication involves ―talking and listening, writing and reading, performing
and witnessing, or, more generally, doing anything that involves ‗messages‘ in any medium or situation.‖

Communication theorists use the word text as a synonym for a message that can be studied, regardless
of the medium. A book is a text. So is a verbatim transcript of a conversation with your instructor, a
recorded presidential news conference, a silent YouTube video, or a Kelly Clarkson song on your iPod.

Creation of Messages
This phrase in the working definition indicates that the content and form of a text are usually constructed,
invented, planned, crafted, constituted, selected, or adopted by the communicator. Each of these terms
is used in one or more of the theories, and they all imply that the communicator is usually making a
conscious choice of message form and substance. For whatever reason, your friend sent a text message
rather than meeting face-to-face, calling you on the phone, sending an email, or writing a note. There
are, of course, many times when we speak, write, or gesture in seemingly mindless ways.

Interpretation of Messages
Messages do not interpret themselves. The meaning that a message holds for both the creators and
receivers doesn‘t reside in the words that are spoken, written, or acted out. A truism among
communication scholars is that words don’t mean things, people mean things. Symbolic interactionist
Herbert Blumer states its implication: ―Humans act toward people or things on the basis of the meanings
they assign to those people or things.‖ Words and other symbols are polysemic— they‘re open to
multiple interpretations.

A Relational Process
The Greek philosopher Heraclites observed that ―one cannot step into the same river twice.‖ These
words illustrate the widespread acceptance among communication scholars that communication is a
process. Much like a river, the flow of communication is always in flux, never completely the same.
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University of Georgia rhetorical theorist Celeste Condit suggests that the communication process is more
about relationships than it is about content. Communication is a process of relating. This means it is not
primarily or essentially a process of transferring information or of disseminating or circulating signs
(though these things can be identified as happening within the process of relating). Communication is a
relational process not only because it takes place between two or more persons, but also because it
affects the nature of the connections among those people. Television viewers and moviegoers have
emotional responses to people they see on the screen. And as businesses are discovering, even the
impersonal recorded announcement that ―this call may be monitored for the purpose of quality control‖
has an impact on how we regard their corporate persona.

Messages that Elicit Response

This final feature of communication deals with the effect of the message upon people who receive it. For
whatever reason, if the message fails to stimulate any cognitive, emotional, or behavioral reaction, it
seems pointless to refer to it as communication. We often refer to such situations as a message ―falling
on deaf ears‖ or the other person ―turning a blind eye.‖ That nonresponse is different than the prison
warden‘s oft-quoted line in Paul Newman‘s classic film Cool Hand Luke. When Luke repeatedly breaks
the rules laid down by the warden, this man who insists on being called Boss drawls, ―Luke, what we
have here is a failure to communicate.‖ He‘s wrong. Luke understands and actively resists the clearly
stated rules; the Boss responds violently to Luke‘s insubordination and his attempts to escape. Both men
respond to the message of the other.

COMPONENTS OF THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Communication is a process of exchanging verbal and

nonverbal messages. It is a continuous process. Pre-
requisite of communication is a message. This message
must be conveyed through some medium to the recipient. It
is essential that this message must be understood by the
recipient in same terms as intended by the sender. He must
respond within a time frame. Thus, communication is a two
way process and is incomplete without a feedback from the
recipient to the sender on how well the message is
understood by him.

The main components of communication process are as follows:

1. Context may be historical, physical, psychological, social,

or cultural. Every communication proceeds with context. The
sender chooses the message to communicate within a
context.

2. Sender / Encoder is a person who sends the message. A

sender makes use of symbols (words or graphic or visual aids)
to convey the message and produce the required response.
For instance, a training manager conducting training for new
batch of employees. Sender may be an individual or a group
or an organization. The views, background, approach, skills,
competencies, and knowledge of the sender have a great
impact on the message. The verbal and nonverbal symbols
chosen are essential in ascertaining interpretation of the
message by the recipient in the same terms as intended by
the sender.
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3. Message is a key idea that the sender wants to communicate. It is a sign that elicits the response of
recipient. Communication process begins with deciding about the message to be conveyed. It must be
ensured that the main objective of the message is clear.

4. Medium is a means used to exchange / transmit the message. The sender must choose an
appropriate medium for transmitting the message else the message might not be conveyed to the
desired recipients. The choice of appropriate medium of communication is essential for making the
message effective and correctly interpreted by the recipient. This choice of communication medium
varies depending upon the features of communication. For instance, written medium is chosen when a
message has to be conveyed to a small group of people, while an oral medium is chosen when
spontaneous feedback is required from the recipient as misunderstandings are cleared then and there.
5. Recipient / Decoder is a person for whom the message is intended / aimed / targeted. The degree to
which the decoder understands the message is dependent upon various factors such as knowledge of
recipient, their responsiveness to the message, and the reliance of encoder on decoder.

6. Feedback is the main component of communication process as it permits the sender to analyze the
efficacy of the message. It helps the sender in confirming the correct interpretation of message by the
decoder. Feedback may be verbal (through words) or non-verbal (in form of smiles, sighs, etc.).

7. Noise is any internal or external factor that disturbs the communication process.

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
From WordPress Theme

Verbal Communication

People are probably most familiar with verbal communication. Verbal communication refers to the oral
transmission, or speaking, of information. Much of verbal communication takes place face-to-face, but
not all. Spoken messages transmitted by telephone, radio, television and other media also count. Verbal
communication always involves words, sound, speaking and language, and can be interpersonal or
public. Over 3,000 languages exist in the world to facilitate verbal communication.

Though verbal communication is not the most commonly used type, it has its own particular advantages.
Speakers can exercise precise control over their messages, tailoring their delivery speed, volume and
tone to fit the needs of listeners. If listeners misinterpret a speaker‘s message, the speaker can clarify
any statements made and resolve misunderstandings on the spot. Verbal communication is also great for
explaining difficult or abstract concepts, making it vital to education and business.

Nonverbal Communication

Experts estimate that up to two-thirds of all human communication is nonverbal, making it the most
common method of conveying information. Body language, gestures, facial expressions, touch, posture
and even clothing are all forms of nonverbal communication that can reveal a person‘s thoughts,
attitudes and desires. Since physical expression is innate to human behavior, most people are
unconscious of the amount of information they transmit to others. Crossed arms suggest defensiveness,
a tapping foot shows impatience, and a long embrace denotes intimacy. Nearly all forms of nonverbal
communication derive their meaning from culture and context. Plugging one‘s ears in a classroom
conveys a very different message than plugging one‘s ears at an air show.

All types of communication contain nonverbal elements. In speech, these elements are known as
paralanguage and include rate, pitch, volume, intonation and speaking style. Nonverbal elements in
written communication include handwriting style and page layout. Nonverbal communication plays an
essential role in interpersonal relationships and can lead to success if managed properly.
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Visual Communication

Visual communication involves displaying information visually through such media as signs, posters,
paintings, graphs, sculpture, architectural design, photographs and videos. Most often, visual
communication is paired with written or verbal communication to create memorable and highly
compelling messages. Communicating visually is an effective means of conveying information because it
harmonizes with how humans instinctively learn. The brain naturally processes far more visual
information than any other kind. At the same time, the subjective nature of interpreting visual symbols
can lead to misunderstandings, so visual messages should be crafted carefully.

(Photo from www.bing.com)

LEVELS OF COMMUNICATION
Intrapersonal Communication
Intrapersonal communication is also known as self-talk or thinking, and refers to the ways we
communicate with ourselves. We use intrapersonal communication to plan our lives, rehearse scenarios
before we act them out, and tell ourselves what to do or not do. The way we communicate with ourselves
greatly affects our self-esteem. A person who tells himself, "I'm so stupid" when he fails an exam will
likely have poorer self-esteem than someone who thinks, "I did really well on the previous four exams. I
must have just been having an off day, and I'll do better next time."

Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal communication is the communication we have with other people. This type of
communication varies from highly impersonal to extremely personal. The degree to which we
communicate, or fail to communicate, with others influences how our relationships with them develop,
continue or come to an end.

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 Group communication is an extension of
interpersonal communication where more than two
individuals are involved in exchange of ideas, skills
and interests. A group is a number of people with a
common goal who interact with one another to
accomplish their goals, recognize one another‘s
existence and see themselves as part of the group.
Communication in a group, small or big, serves many
goals including collective decision-making, self-
expression, increasing one‘s effect, elevating one‘s
status and relaxation. Group communication is
considered effective as it provides an opportunity for
direct interaction among the members of the group; it
helps in bringing about changes in attitudes and
beliefs (Francis, 2010).

Public Communication
Public communication refers to public speeches
that we deliver in front of audiences. Public
communication serves three main purposes: to
entertain, to persuade and/or to inform. It is different
from other forms of interaction in that it requires
greater levels of planning and preparation on the
part of the speaker and involves less direct
interaction. Audience members still interact with the
speaker via mostly nonverbal symbols, but there is
a lesser degree of give and take than there is in
one-on-one conversations.

Mass Communication
Mass communication refers to any type of
media that is used to communicate with mass
audiences. Examples of mass media include
books, television, radios, films, computer
technologies, magazines and newspapers.
Although mass communication does include
certain computer technologies, it does not
include technologies like email that are used to
communicate one-on-one with someone. Mass
communication is responsible for giving us
views of events, issues and people from
cultures that differ from ours. It enables us to
learn what is going on in distant places in the
world and lets us learn the viewpoints of people
and cultures with whom we do not have direct
contact.

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TYPES OF COMMUNICATION CONTEXTS
By Justin Beach

Each type and instance of communication will have a specific context. Communication context will, for
example, be different for a television broadcaster than for a door-to-door salesperson. A communications
context can be thought of as the environment or human eco-system, in which communication takes
place. Determining the context of a particular instance of communication involves considering the
cultural, historical, psychological, social and physical factors at play.

Historical Context
The historical context involves the expectation of the speaker and the audience in situations that happen
regularly or have happened in the past. If, for example, an individual does an annual sales presentation
for a particular client there will, over time, evolve certain expectations about what will happen and how
things will go. That does not mean that the same thing must happen every time, but the speaker should
be aware of both their own historical expectations and that of the audience.

Psychological Context
The psychological context refers to the mood and emotions of the audience, as well as the speaker to a
lesser extent. How the audience is feeling will have an impact on how the speaker's messages will be
received, and how they should be delivered. For example, if a speaker is making a presentation at a
conference with several days of various speakers doing presentations, the psychology of the audience
will be different in the morning of the first day than it will in the evening of the last day. The mood
following dinner will be different than the mood right before dinner.

Cultural Context
Cultural context is one of the most obvious
factors of communication, but it is also one of
the most important. Culture relates to the
beliefs and values of a group. The way
material is effectively presented to a group of
teenage boys will be different from the way it
is effectively presented to a group of elderly
women. The best way to present information
to a group of Wall Street stock brokers will be
different than the best way to present that
same information to a group of California
surfers. It is always critically important that a
speaker understand the cultural expectations
of the audience.

Social Context
Social context is a personal matter. It involves the relationship of the speaker and the audience and the
expectations involved in that relationship. The way an individual communicates with his employer will be
different from the way he communicates with a drinking buddy. The way a teacher makes a request to
her students will be different from the way she communicates the request to her spouse.

Physical Context
There is a time and place for everything, and that is where physical context comes in. The physical
context involves the actual location, the time of day, the lighting, noise level and related factors. A
speaker at a political rally might shout, pound the podium and use inflammatory language to get an
audience excited. At many political rallies, this type of behavior is expected. Doing the same thing with a
small group of friends around a fireplace late at night would produce a very different reaction.
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THE HISTORY OF COMMUNICATION

The history of communication illustrates this never-ending push for progress as it steadily parallels
human growth, becoming more widespread and efficient as the development of modern civilization
unfolds.
Prehistoric Era: Fires, beacons, smoke signals, communication drums, horns: Man's first attempts at
distance communication were extremely limited. Prehistoric man relied on fire and smoke signals as well
as drum messages to encode information over a limited geographic area as they attempted to contact
neighboring clans. These signals also needed to have very simple, pre-decided meanings like "safe" or
"danger" or "victory" or could be used as a form of alarm system in order to alert prehistoric clans to
predators or invading clans.
6th century BCE: Mail: Cyrus the Great was a Persian emperor at the height of Persia's power in the
6th century BCE. The empire was so vast that Cyrus couldn't easily communicate from one end to the
other: He is credited as having established the first postal system in the history of the world. Other
ancient powers like Egypt, Rome, and China eventually built their own postal systems later on.
5th century BCE: Pigeon post: Persia and Syria are credited with establishing the first pigeon
messaging system around the 5th century BCE due to the discovery that pigeons have an uncanny
ability to find their way back to their nests regardless of the distance. Travelers would bring doves and
pigeons along with them, attach messages to them and release them to fly back home. Later on, pigeons
would be used by Romans to report the outcomes of sporting events and by Egyptians for military
communications.
4th century BCE: Hydraulic semaphore: In the 4th century BCE, the hydraulic semaphore was designed
in ancient Greece as a method of communication, and it was vital during the first Punic War. Very much
like early smoke signals or beacons, it involved a network of identical containers on separate hills, each
with a vertical rod floated in it. These rods would have predetermined codes inscribed at various
intervals. Someone who wished to communicate would signal another with a torch; they would
synchronize and then simultaneously open their spigots and drain the water until it was at the desired
code. This system also had the same limitations as smoke signals - the messages had to be pre-
determined prior to sending them.
Circa 490 BCE: Heliographs (shield signals): The heliograph or shield signal was first documented
during the famous Greek battle of Marathon that took place in 490 BCE. A heliograph involves the
shining of the sun on a polished object like a shield or mirror. Interestingly enough, in this instance, the
signal given was not really understood, since its meaning had not been clearly agreed upon prior to it
being used.

15th century CE: Maritime flag semaphore: The ability to communicate between ships was very difficult
before the 15th century. At that time, flag semaphore, a special code involving the positions of two hand-
held flags, was introduced. Each position and motion represented a letter or number. This made it very
easy for fleets to communicate.

1672: First experimental acoustic (mechanical) telephone: Robert Hooke is first credited with creating an
acoustic telephone in 1672. Hooke discovered that sound could be transmitted over wire or string into an
attached earpiece or mouthpiece. At the time, it's not clear that he was aware of the implications of this
discovery, as his notes point toward his desire to use this device to make music.

1790: Semaphore lines (optical telegraphs): Using the maritime flag semaphore as a starting point, the
Chappe brothers, two French inventors, created the first optical telegraph system in 1790. The optical
telegraph was a system of pendulums set up somewhere high like on a tower or the top of a town clock.
The telegraph would swing its mechanical arms around and sign messages from one tower to the next. It
was the first telecommunications system in Europe.

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1838: Electrical telegraph: Samuel B. Morse had been working on the idea of a recording telegraph with
friends Alfred Vail and Leonard Gale. They discovered that when connecting two model telegraphs
together and running electricity through a wire, you could send messages by holding or releasing the
buttons in a series of intervals. This became known as Morse code and lay the foundation for modern
land-line phones.

1858: First trans-Atlantic telegraph cable: At this point, most of Britain and the United States had
telegraph stations and were able to regularly communicate within their own countries, but a man named
Cyrus Field from New York wanted to lay the first transatlantic telephone cable to connect England and
the United States by telegraph. This project, though it was met with many setbacks, was finally
completed in August of 1858.

1867: Signal lamps: In 1867, the first dots and dashes were flashed by signal lamps at sea. The idea
was that of British Admiral Phillip Colomb, who took the design of signal lamp inventor Arthur C.W. Aldis
and implemented this method of communication as well as his own code in order for the ships in his fleet
to easily communicate. This code was similar to Morse code, but eventually, Morse code became more
widely used.

1876: Telephones: The year 1876 was a big one for Alexander Graham Bell. Having come to the U.S. as
a teacher for the deaf, he had been trying to figure out a way to transmit speech electronically. Despite
little support from his friends, he successfully invented the telephone in March of 1876.

1877: Acoustic phonograph: Inventor Thomas Alva Edison made incredible strides in sound recording
and transmission when he completed the first acoustic phonograph in August of 1877. He had been
trying to improve and finalize the model for the telephone when he realized that by attaching a needle to
the phonograph diaphragm and a tin-foil cylinder on which the needle could record spoken words, he
could record and play back sounds.

1880: Telephony via light-beam photophones: In 1880, Alexander Graham Bell took the money he'd
received for successfully creating the telephone, set up a lab and got to work improving his invention.
The fruit of his labor was the photophone, a device capable of transmitting sound in a beam of light. In
essence, Bell had made the first wireless call in history!

1893: Wireless telegraphy: Nikolai Tesla was the first to successfully transmit radio waves wirelessly
through a transmitter in 1893. He patented his work, which was lucky because shortly after that,
Guglielmo Marconi, another inventor, alleged that Tesla had copied his work. During the legal battle that
ensued, this was found to be untrue. Tesla continued to experiment with wireless transmission and
attempted to create a more efficient light bulb.

1896: Radio: Undaunted by his defeat in the U.S. courts, Marconi kept working on his own versions of
wireless transmission of sound. In 1896, he sent his first long-distance wireless transmission. The signal
was sent over a distance of 2 kilometers. The recipient of this signal waved a white kerchief to show that
it had been received. This earned Marconi a place in the history books as the man who gave us the first
radio.

1900: First television displayed only black and white images. Over the next decades, color television was
invented, showing images that were clearer and in full color.

1915: First North American transcontinental telephone calling: Alexander Graham Bell is back in the
history books again after he made the first coast-to-coast call by phone in January of 1915 to his
assistant. It was the first long-distance call made in history from a land-line. It has significance because it
made long-distance communication all over the country a reality.

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1927: Television: Phillip T. Farnsworth made media history on September 7, 1927, when he
demonstrated the first working television set. He had been working on a method to transmit images:
What he discovered was that you could encode radio waves with an image and then project them back
onto the screen. This gave us the first television prototype.
1927: First U.K.-U.S. radio-telephone service: The first radio-telephone service from the U.K. to the U.S.
was established in January of 1927. The phones were initially radio phones, so there were some issues
with fading and interference. Initially, it was only one circuit and received about 2,000 calls a year, and
the cost for three minutes of conversation time was nearly $10.
1930: First experimental videophones: In 1930, AT&T had decided to create a two-way experimental
videophone they called the Iconophone. This allowed people to see, hear, and respond to those they
were speaking to in real time. The idea, although different, did not meet with much commercial success.
1934: First commercial radio-telephone service, U.S.-Japan: The first radio telephone calls from the U.S.
to Japan were first made in 1934. This enabled people to speak across the Pacific Ocean for the first
time. Unfortunately, due to the distance, the quality of the calls was not great. There tended to be a lot of
fading and interference.
1936: World's first public videophone network: The world, now in the throes of World War II, sees the first
public videophone network installed in Nazi Germany in March of 1936 during a trade fair. It was for use
by "Aryans only" for a limited time each day from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. It was left installed there even after
the trade show was over.
1946: Limited-capacity mobile telephone service for automobiles: In June of 1946, the first telephone call
was made from an automobile phone. The design had been put together by Southwestern Bell. Due to
the cost of installation and the small volume of calls, it wasn't a very extensive mobile network.

1956: Transatlantic telephone cable: The first 36-circuit transatlantic telephone cable was installed in
1956. The cable stretched from Newfoundland to Scotland. This now made phone calls much less
expensive than the older radio telephone system.

1962: Commercial telecommunications satellite: The Communications Satellite Act was officially passed
in 1962, allowing telecommunications to finally go into space. AT&T was in the process of constructing
their satellites, and two short years later, they would have put six telecommunications satellites into orbit.

1964: Fiber-optic telecommunications: In 1964, Charles Kao and George Hockham published a paper
that proved that fiber-optic communication could be possible as long as the fibers used to transmit the
information were free of impurities. This discovery reopened the door Alexander Graham Bell had first
created with his photophone, allowing sound to be transmitted over beams of light.

1965: First North American public videophone network: In 1965, the first picturephone service began in
trials. These phones were called "Mod I" picturephone sets, and in July of that year, Union Carbide
Corporation began trials for the first picturephone network. In December of the same year, AT&T also
began similar trials in some of their networks.

1969: Computer networking: In October of 1969, the first data traveled between nodes of the ARPANET,
a predecessor of the Internet. This was the first computer network and was invented by Charley Kline
and Bill Duvall.

1973: First modern-era mobile phone: Inventor Martin Cooper placed the first cellular mobile call in 1973
to his rival at Bell Labs, Joel Engel. The first mobile phone had a maximum talk time of 30 minutes, and it
took a year for the battery to recharge. The phone would eventually be a prototype for Motorola's first
mobile phones.

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1979: INMARSAT ship-to-shore satellite communications: The year 1979 was a big leap forward for
maritime communications. The International Maritime Satellite Organization (INMARSAT) was
established to provide marine vessels with reliable communication for increased safety and
communication for sailors and passengers who needed to speak to someone on shore.

1981: First mobile phone network: The first commercially automated cellular network was launched in
Japan in 1981. The network was originally launched only in Tokyo in 1979 and then was expanded.
Simultaneously, the Nordic Mobile Telephone system was also established in Denmark, Finland,
Norway, and Sweden.

1982: SMTP email: Prior to 1982, the Internet was highly secure and comprised of limited network
clusters between military, corporate, and some university research facilities. In 1982, Jonathan Postel
wrote the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and shifted the focus of the Internet from security to reliability
using the networks as relay stations to send electronic mail to the recipient through cooperative hosts.

1983: Internet: On January 1, 1983, the Internet was officially born. ARPANET officially switched its old
network control protocols (NCP) and Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) became
standard.

1998: Mobile satellite hand-held phones: The first canopy of 64 satellites was put into place by a
company called Iridium in 1998. They also produced the first hand-held satellite phones, which were
smaller and less cumbersome than the earlier "bag" phones. This revolutionized mobile
telecommunications and would lead to the modern smartphone.

2003: VoIP Internet telephony: In 2003, phone calls were now capable of being transmitted over a
computer through Internet protocols. This meant that long-distance charges were not applicable, as
callers would use already-established computer networks.

2007: iPhone was launched, spurring dramatic handset innovation.

2010: The first 4G handset was introduced at international CTIA WIRELESS show.

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 Output and Log out…
Accomplish the assessment activity that follows. Then submit your output to your
instructor for evaluation and grading.

Name: ___________________________________ Section: _______ Date: _______ Score: ________

A. What do you understand about the statement, “Poor communication lies at the root of many
problems.”? Give a short but substantial explanation.

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B. If you were to live during the BCE (Before the Common/Current Era) years, what form of
communication would you wish to experience? How do you see its relevance in today’s highly
sophisticated forms of communication?

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C. Haiku is unrhymed poetic form consisting of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5
syllables respectively. The haiku first emerged in Japanese literature during the 17th century, as a terse
reaction to elaborate poetic traditions, though it did not become known by the name haiku until the 19th
century (www.britannica.com). Compose two Haiku about the history of communication.

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D. Responding to Image. Write a reflection essay of 50 – 75 words based on the proceeding image.

My Reflection Essay
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References
Amudavalli, A. (2016). Theories & models of communication. University of Madras, Chennai 600005.

Beach, J. (2018, June 27). Types of communication contexts. Classroom by Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf
Group Media. Retrieved from https://classroom.synonym.com/types-of-communication-contexts-
12083248.html

Brenner, D. (2014, July 23). The recipe for great communication. The Latimer Group. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFWsTsvJ8Xw

Francis, A. (2010, April 23). Introduction to group communication. Retrieved from

https://www.mbaknol.com/business-communication/introduction-to-group-communication/

Griffin, E. A. (2012). A first look at communication theory. New York : McGraw-Hill.

Types and levels of communication. Retrieved from http://intranet.tdmu.edu.ua/data/kafedra/internal/i_

nurse/lectures

WordPress Theme. (2020). Types of Communication. Communication Studies. Retrieved from

https://www.communicationstudies.com/types-of-communication

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