| Communications Systems
Communication is the exchange of ideas and information among living things.
A wolf communicates subservience by lowering its head. Many insects emit
chemical substances to signal a mate. Whales communicate with gentle vocalizations.
Communication is a system that humans certainly use everyday. We speak
to people, write messages, use the telephone, watch television, listen
to the radio, use a computer, and more. What would your life be like if
you couldn't talk to communicate how you feel, what you want, and what
your plans are? Communication is sharing knowledge, telling news, expressing
feelings, and being heard. It takes two to communicate--one to say it
and one to listen and respond.
People have always had the need to communicate. Anciently, communication
was primarily pictures painted on cave walls or other rock surfaces to
tell about a successful hunt or a travel route or a spiritual belief.
Oral language followed and then the written word.
Humans have been inventive in their systems of communication. Greek soldiers
sent messages by turning their shields toward the sun. The flashes of
reflected light could be seen several miles away. Romans built long rows
of signal towers, and soldiers shouted messages from tower to tower. (This
sounds like an exhausting system of communication, doesn't it?) Some
Native Americans used smoke signals to send messages. Peoples from Africa
sometimes sent messages by beating on a series of large drums. Each drum
was kept within hearing distance of the next one. The drum beats were
sent out in a special code that all the drummers understood. Though the
messages were simple, they could be sent at great speed for hundreds of
miles.
For most of human history, messages could only go as fast as the speed
of someone walking on foot or the speed of a horse or the speed of a sailing
ship. Today, advances in science and technology have revolutionized communications
so that information can reach huge numbers of people in minutes. Changes
in communication technology have brought the world closer together and
made possible our current explosion of information.
Communication also has a creative aspect. Art has the ability to communicate
feelings and ideas with a variety of media. Visual artists communicate
through pictures, dancers through dance, musicians through music, and
writers and poets through words.
Sample some of the following activities to learn more about systems of
communications.
Places To Go | People
To See | Things To Do | Teacher
Resources | Bibliography
Places To Go
The following are some places to go (some real and some virtual) to find
out more about systems of communication:
How about a tour of your local radio or TV station? KUTV, KSL, and KTVX television in Salt Lake City all give tours.
A Virtual
Tour of Southwest American Desert Petroglyphs
Virtually visit canyons, caves, and ancient thoroughfares to explore Native
American petroglyphs. Ancient native peoples of the  United
States communicated through the signs and symbols that they carved into
rock surfaces.
At a time when few people could read, stained glass in churches and cathedrals
was a way to communicate stories and ideas. Visit a local church or synagogue
that has stained glass and see what stories the beautiful glass communicates.
The Museum of Broadcast
Communications
The Museum of Broadcast Communications examines popular culture and contemporary
American history through the sights and sounds of television and radio.
The
News: Process Behind the Presentation
Go on a virtual tour of three different news outlets--online news, broadcast
journalism, and print newspapers—to find out more about how these
different forms of media communicate information.
People To See 
Ask
Dr. Universe all your communication-related questions. He is very
knowledgeable. You can also search through his archives of past questions
and answers.
The Mad Scientists Network is a "global, collective cranium of scientists providing answers to your
questions." Ask them anything.
Find out if your grandparents or great-grandparents kept journals.
It's a great way to communicate with your past and find out about
your family's history.
Things To Do
 The
Animated Sign Language Dictionary
American Sign Language is a system of communication. Learn more about
it. This animated online dictionary will show you how. Learn how to sign
your name or learn how to sign a simple phrase and share it with your
friends.
Dolphin
Communication
Try and communicate with the pets at your house. Do you think that humans
can really understand animals? What is your cat communicating when she
rubs her head against your leg? What is she communicating when she climbs
your curtains? How would animals and humans benefit by learning to speak
a common language?
Whale Songs
Even whales have a system of communication.
 Crocodile
Talk
Crocodile Talk kind of sounds like the title of a song, doesn't it? What
would you imagine that crocs talk about? According to this site, "Crocodilians
are the most vocal of all reptiles, and calls vary widely depending on
species, age, size and sex. Context is also very important, and some species
can communicate over 20 different kinds of messages through sound alone."
Write an imagined dialog between two crocodiles. Are they arguing over
who gets to snap at the next passing fish? Are they making plans to terrorize
passersby? Are they dreaming of a vacation to the Nile? Are they seriously
discussing how they are better than alligators? (By the way, what is the
difference between crocodiles and alligators?)
Elephant
Communication
From a zoologist who has studied elephants for 25 years, learn some of
the subtle and not so subtle ways that elephants communicate. They use
touch, visual signals, chemical cues, and vocalizations. This is part
of the PBS series, Nature.
Name
in Hieroglyphics
The ancient Egyptians, of course, used hieroglyphics as their system of
written language. This site is great fun. You can enter your name and
then see what it would look like in hieroglyphics. Vikings used a written language called runes.
Newspapers
Find out about the technologies that go into producing a modern newspaper.
Esperanto
Esperanto is a neutral world language that does not belong to a particular
country or group of people. It's a language that was created by Dr. L.
Zamenhof in 1887. Find out how to say "school" in Esperanto.
Braille
Braille is a system of small, raised dots that blind individuals use to
read and communicate.
Johannes Gutenberg
Describe how Gutenberg affected the history of communication.
 100
Years of Radio
Would you have thought that radio communication has been around since
1895? Learn more about how radios work as well as the inventor of the
radio, Guglielmo Marconi.
Spy Letters
of the American Revolution
Whoooaaa...cool. Spy letters! Spy activities! Rachel Revere tried to send
her husband, Paul, a letter with money in it after his midnight ride.
A spy stole the letter and stole the money! Spies DO need a system of
communication. Compare how spies communicated in the 1700's and how you
think they probably communicate today.
 How
Telephones Work
Imagine your life without a telephone. How hard would it be to keep up
your present personal communications? You could still keep in touch with
friends through email and chat--but would you want to email your pizza
order? Find out more about the history of telephones, and learn about Alexander
Graham Bell.
Pay attention to body language. It communicates many messages. What does
it mean if one of your parents is looking at you with their hands on their
hips? What could it mean if someone blinks alot when they are talking
to you--what could it mean if they hardly blink at all?
 How
TV Works
Learn about the principles of light, sound, and electromagnetic waves.
AND find out how your remote control works, too.
The
Pledge of Allegiance (Fides Obligata)
Say the Pledge of Allegiance in Latin. Why is Latin called a dead language?
Doesn't anyone speak it anymore? Who used to speak Latin? What other languages
have their basis in Latin?
Practice your listening skills. (Your teacher would like this). Oral
communication requires both speaking AND listening. It's like a tree falling
in the forest--does communication really take place if there is no one
to hear it?
MapBlast
Maps are an important system of communication. What kinds of messages
do we get from maps--distance, landforms, direction, etc. List the professions
that use maps--geologists, truck drivers, city planners, etc.
Composer
Biographies
Music communicates many emotions.
Morse
Code
Using the system of dots and dashes, figure out how to tap a message in
Morse code--you can even hear Morse code! If you and a friend BOTH learn Morse code, you can tap out
messages to each other during school, and no one will know what you are
talking about! Find out more about Samuel
Morse, the developer of Morse code.
 In
medieval times when knights wore helmets and full armor, it was hard to
tell who was who in battle. So many knights had a coat
of arms--a design which decorated his shield, his lance, and even
his horse. Coats of arms were an effective system of communication in
identifying individual's identities.
Pony Express
Home Station
The Pony Express only lasted from April 1860 to October 1861, but during
that time, it was the fastest way to communicate from the east coast of
the United States to the west. What other new system of communication
in the U.S. lessened the need for the Pony Express?
Come
To Your Senses
We communicate and receive messages through each of our five senses. When
we hear the siren of a fire engine, what is the message that we receive?
When we sniff a container of milk and it has a bad smell, what is the
message that we get?
The gestures that we make are a system of communication. If someone gives
you a "thumbs up", what does that mean? If someone makes a circle with
their forefinger and thumb, do you know that they are communicating, "okay"?
(By the way, if you were to use that very same okay gesture in France,
it would be like telling someone that they are worthless. In the Middle
East, that gesture means "get lost!", and in Japan, that gesture means
that you are communicating about money.)
 Graffiti is a system of communication. What kinds of messages does graffiti send?
Are they all negative messages?
Homing Pigeons
Homing pigeons used to be used to carry messages. Are they still used?
Find out their role in World War I. Whatever happened to carrier pigeons?
According to this site, "Pigeons are more trustworthy than modern technology."
PBS:
The Telephone
Learn more about the people and events surrounding the innovation of the
telephone.
The
Transistor
Celebrate more than 50 years of the transistor, the device that led to
a communications revolution.
Television History
Study the history of perhaps the most prolific communications medium of
the 20th Century.
Teacher Resources
Lesson Plans/Webquests/Activities
Bibliography
- Aliki. Communication. New York : Greenwillow Books, 1993.
- Brown, Marc. Arthur Writes A Story. Boston : Little, Brown, 1996.
- Brown, Marc. Arthur Writes A Story [videorecording]; plus,
Locked in the Library. New York : Random House Home Video, 1997.
- Buller, Laura and Taylor, Ron. Science in Action. Communications :
New York : Marshall Cavendish, 1990.
- Gay, Kathlyn. Getting your Message Across. New york : New Discovery
Books, 1993.
- Jay, Michael. The History of Communications. New York : Thomson Learning,
1995.
- Mead, Richard. I Wonder Why the Telephone Rings. New York: Kingfisher,
1996.
- Streissguth, Thomas. Communications : Sending the Message. Minneapolis
: OLiver Press, 1997.
- Ventura, Piero. Communication : Means and Technologies for Exchanging
Information. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1994.
Images are copyrighted by ArtToday. Used by permission.
All rights reserved. |
