About This Book
Communications between animals can be seen everywhere on earth within species and between species. Within family groups animals will communicate with one another to ensure their collective security, feeding and propagation of the family. Between prey and the attacking species communication is used for alerting, conveying aggression and to signal flights. These basic communications examples apply equally well to early humans and even nowadays.
Humans though have derived several methods of communication over human history that tend to become more complex as time goes by. Evolving from simple communications methods such as grunting and growling humans have used what is readily available to inter-communicate. The first major steps was to use natural methods using smoke, fire, reflected sunlight and other features found in nature.
When humans required to convey information quicker and in greater amounts humans spoke to one another using basic languages. As languages evolved this allowed improved communication between groups of humans. Where different languages were formed by independent groups of humans the need for translation became a requirement. Communities could now communicate in larger groupings within villages, towns cities and between nations.
Early communications used wired connections for transmission of telegraph traffic and then voice traffic. Methods of routing between exchanges advanced to include messages and then data packets. With the advent of radio communication between communities could occur through line of sight and then through relayed links such as satellites. Most of these advances were first driven by military needs where communications links have to be secure and physically survivable.
The advent of personal communications with cell phones/mobiles has introduced increasingly more functionality for the users. The introduction of a myriad of applications allow communication in voice, text, e-mail, and video forms. Specialised applications are continuously being developed to allow collective groups to operate in both in personal and business forums. Nowadays communications are used to run peoples lives in ways such as organising, health monitoring, dating and music/games for entertainment purposes. Increasingly the populace is living in a virtual world leaving behind active lives that have featured in human life for millennium.
