Communication

The need to communicate is part of mans inherent being. Since the beginning of time the human race has communicated using different techniques and methods. Circumstances and available technology have dictated the method and means of communications. Many early forms of communication were writing, depicted on cave walls. Then communication advanced by the development of language and the use of symbols. Papyrus and paper were used to record communication for later use. Smoke signals of the early american Indians; the drums of African tribes; and the towers of the chinese wall are indications of the desire to communicate beyond the immediate physical boundaries of space. Story tellers around the camp-fire are a good example of communication, using animation, gestures and sound to communicate their message to other members of the tribe.

In 1948, a model of communication was proposed by Claude Shannon. Shannon worked for the Bell Telephone Company in America, and was concerned with the transmission of speech across a telephone line. Warren Weaver, in association with Shannon, wrote a preface to this model and it was published as a book in 1949. Weaver saw the applicability of Shannon's model of communication to a much wider sphere than just telephony, and it has served as a basis for explaining communication since that time.