Vypracoval: Boris Vavrík
Communication is commonly defined as an “interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs". Although there is such a thing as one-way communication, communication is more effective as a two-way process in which there is an exchange and progression of thoughts, feelings or ideas towards a common goal or solution that is accepted by all parts.
By communication we can also mean a field of study concerned with the transmission of information by various means, such as print or broadcasting.
Communication as a process starts with a package that is created and sent by a sender via various types of medium. The process usually ends with the point when the package reaches a receiver. The receiver needs to be prepared to understand and analyze the information and send a feedback when it’s appropriate.
Verbal communication is one way for people to communicate face-to-face. Some of the key components of verbal communication are sounds, words, speaking, and language.
At birth, most people have vocal cords, which produce sounds. As a child grows it learns how to form these sounds into words. Some words may be imitative of natural sounds, but others may come from expressions of emotion, such as laughter or crying. Words alone have no meaning. Only people can put meaning into words. As meaning is assigned to words, language develops, which leads to the development of speaking.
The actual origin of language is subject to considerable speculation. Some theorists believe it is an outgrowth of group activities such as working together or dancing. Others believe that language developed from basic sounds and gestures.
Over 3,000 languages and major dialects are spoken in the world today. The development of languages reflects class, gender, profession, age group, and other social factors. The huge variety of languages usually creates difficulties between different languages, but even within a single language there can be many problems in understanding.
Through speaking we try to eliminate this misunderstanding, but sometimes this is a very hard thing to do. Just as we assume that our messages are clearly received, so we assume that because something is important to us, it is important to others. As time has proven this is not at all true. Many problems can arise in speaking and the only way to solve these problems is through experience.
Speaking can be looked at in two major areas: interpersonal and public speaking. Since the majority of speaking is an interpersonal process, to communicate effectively we must not simply clean up our language, but learn to relate to people.
In interpersonal speaking, etiquette is very important. To be an effective communicator one must speak in a manner that is not offending to the receiver. Etiquette also plays an important role in an area that has developed in most all business settings: hierarchical communication. In business today, hierarchical communication is of utmost importance to all members involved.
In contrary to verbal communication, non-verbal communication is not organized by language. Most of us spend about 75 percent of our waking hours communicating our knowledge, thoughts, and ideas to others. However, most of us fail to realize that a great deal of our communication is of a non-verbal form as opposed to the oral and written forms. It includes facial expressions, eye contact, tone of voice, body posture and motions, and positioning within groups. It may also include the way we wear our clothes or the silence we keep.
In person-to-person communications our messages are sent on two levels simultaneously. If the nonverbal cues and the spoken message are inappropriate, the flow of communication is hindered. Right or wrong, the receiver of the communication tends to base the intentions of the sender on the non- verbal cues he receives. It is recognized that if people show a true awareness to non-verbal cues, they have a better chance to succeed, for it will be an open, honest, and confronting unit.
During last couple of decades, there has been an extraordinary development of a particular type of communication called digital communication, or data transmission. It is defined as the physical transfer of data over an appropriate medium. Medium is a substance that is able to transfer data, e.g. air, water, optical fibers, wireless communication media, storage media, etc.
While analog communications is the transfer of continuously varying information signal, digital communications is the transfer of discrete messages.
Data has been sent via non-electronic means since the advent of communication. Analog signal data has been sent electronically since the advent of the telephone. However, the first data electromagnetic transmission applications in modern time were telegraphy (1809) and teletypewriters (1906), which are both digital signals.
Data transmission is utilized in computers in computer buses and for communication with peripheral equipment via ports, e.g. USB.
Data transmission is also utilized in computer networking equipment such as modems, local area networks adapters (LAN), hubs, microwave links, wireless network access points, etc.
Thanks to digital communication a global system of interconnected computer networks has been established. It is known as the Internet. The Internet carries vast array of information, mainly the World Wide Web (WWW) and electronic mail. The World Wide Web is a global set of information stored on servers and databases that are connected to the Internet. Thanks to this network millions of people are able to access information and communicate with people from all over the world and using real-time communication.