History of Communication

Communication is the ability to share information. It goes without saying that we need communication in every sphere of our life: family, business, entertainment etc. And the ways of communication have come a long way through the history.

Cave drawings painted on the walls of caves are probably the most ancient “written” kind of communication as they were used to leave a message. But real communication began with the emergency of languages. People began to tell stories and story-telling is the oldest oral way of communication. When the first towns were built, town criers started shouting their messages across short spaces. But if there was a need to deliver a message to some remote places, people had to run. Therefore, the networks of roads were created to make communication faster. Not to mention that our ancestors began riding horses to save time. And at sea ship’s flags were used to communicate.

However, as the game of Chinese whispers demonstrates, oral communication is quite unreliable. So, a system of writing was necessary. When writing appeared, messages written on stone columns communicated very well across time, but badly across space. That’s why Chinese people invented paper. There were other forms of long-distance communication as well. The smoke signals were used by American Indians. Drums sent signals in the jungles of Africa. And ancient Egypt plays a very important role in the history of communication. It was the first country where birds - domesticated pigeons - were used for sending messages.

Nonetheless, the true ‘jump’ came only with the help of electricity. In 1843 Samuel Morse created a special code (point, line and space) which led to the invention of the telegraph. The very code we can still find used today. Seven years later, Graham Bell managed to build an early telephone. Soon in 1895 Marconi invented the ‘wireless telegraph’ – the radio.

In 1923, television was invented and the year of 1983 gave birth to the Internet.

Nowadays people communicate with the help of numerous high-tech devices such as mobile and satellite phones; they organize video conferences and use computer programs, for example Skype to keep in touch with friends and relatives. Email began to take place of snail mail and various social networks like Twitter or Facebook became deeply integrated in our everyday lives. Maybe someday, we will be able to send a message using only our brain.

Questions:

1) What is communication?

2) Which verbal form of communication is the oldest? Which written form is the most ancient one?

3) The oral messages were reliable, were they not? What can demonstrate that?

4) Did messages on stone columns communicate well or did they communicate badly?

5) What did the ancient people do to deliver messages faster?

6) What kind of communication was used by American Indians? What kind of communication was used in Africa?

7) Why does ancient Egypt play a special role in the history of communication?

8) What type of communication was invented by Samuel Morse in 1843?

9) When was the telephone invented? Who was the inventor of it?

10) What is the main difference between the radio and the telegraph?

11) Which important means of communication appeared in the 20^th century?