Saturday, August 6, 2011

Written Communication and its Historical Development

[edit] Written communication and its historical development
Over time the forms of and ideas about communication have evolved through progression of technology. Advances include communications psychology and media psychology; an emerging field of study. Researchers divides the progression of written communication into three revolutionary stages called "Information Communication Revolutions" (Source needed).
During the 1st stage written communication first emerged through the use of pictographs. The pictograms were made in stone, hence written communication was not yet mobile.
During the 2nd stage writing began to appear on paper, papyrus, clay, wax, etc. Common alphabets were introduced and allowed for the uniformity of language across large distances. A leap in technology occurred when the Gutenberg printing-press was invented in the 15th century.
The 3rd stage is characterised by the transfer of information through controlled waves and electronic signals.
Communication is thus a process by which meaning is assigned and conveyed in an attempt to create shared understanding. This process, which requires a vast repertoire of skills in interpersonal processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning, analyzing, gestures, and evaluating enables collaboration and cooperation.[4]
Barriers to successful communication include message overload (when a person receives too many messages at the same time), and message complexity.[5]
Misunderstandings can be anticipated and solved through formulations, questions and answers, paraphrasing, examples, and stories of strategic talk. Written communication can be clear by planning follow-up talk on critical written communication as part of the normal way of doing business. Minutes spent talking now will save time later having to clear up misunderstandings later on. Then, take what was heard and reiterate in your own words, and ask them if that’s what they meant.

Communication Cycle

[edit] Communication cycle
 
 
 
Interactional Model of Communication
Berlo's Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver Model of Communication
Transactional Model of Communication
The first major model for communication came in 1949 by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver for Bell Laboratories [8] The original model was designed to mirror the functioning of radio and telephone technologies. Their initial model consisted of three primary parts: sender, channel, and receiver. The sender was the part of a telephone a person spoke into, the channel was the telephone itself, and the receiver was the part of the phone where one could hear the other person. Shannon and Weaver also recognized that often there is static that interferes with one listening to a telephone conversation, which they deemed noise.
In a simple model, often referred to as the transmission model or standard view of communication, information or content (e.g. a message in natural language) is sent in some form (as spoken language) from an emisor/ sender/ encoder to a destination/ receiver/ decoder. This common conception of communication simply views communication as a means of sending and receiving information. The strengths of this model are simplicity, generality, and quantifiability. Social scientists Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver structured this model based on the following elements:
  1. An information source, which produces a message.
  2. A transmitter, which encodes the message into signals
  3. A channel, to which signals are adapted for transmission
  4. A receiver, which 'decodes' (reconstructs) the message from the signal.
  5. A destination, where the message arrives.
Shannon and Weaver argued that there were three levels of problems for communication within this theory.
The technical problem: how accurately can the message be transmitted?
The semantic problem: how precisely is the meaning 'conveyed'?
The effectiveness problem: how effectively does the received meaning affect behavior?
Daniel Chandler critiques the transmission model by stating:
It assumes communicators are isolated individuals.
No allowance for differing purposes.
No allowance for differing interpretations.
No allowance for unequal power relations.
No allowance for situational contexts.
In 1960, David Berlo expanded on Shannon and Weaver’s (1949) linear model of communication and created the SMCR Model of Communication.[9] The Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver Model of communication separated the model into clear parts and has been expanded upon by other scholars.
Communication is usually described along a few major dimensions: Message (what type of things are communicated), source / emisor / sender / encoder (by whom), form (in which form), channel (through which medium), destination / receiver / target / decoder (to whom), and Receiver. Wilbur Schram (1954) also indicated that we should also examine the impact that a message has (both desired and undesired) on the target of the message.[10] Between parties, communication includes acts that confer knowledge and experiences, give advice and commands, and ask questions. These acts may take many forms, in one of the various manners of communication. The form depends on the abilities of the group communicating. Together, communication content and form make messages that are sent towards a destination. The target can be oneself, another person or being, another entity

Communication Noise

Communication noise
In any communication model, noise is interference with the decoding of messages sent over a channel by an encoder. There are many examples of noise:
Environmental Noise: Noise that physically disrupts communication, such as standing next to loud speakers at a party, or the noise from a construction site next to a classroom making it difficult to hear the professor.
Physiological-Impairment Noise: Physical maladies that prevent effective communication, such as actual deafness or blindness preventing messages from being received as they were intended.
Semantic Noise: Different interpretations of the meanings of certain words. For example, the word "weed" can be interpreted as an undesirable plant in your yard, or as a euphemism for marijuana.
Syntactical Noise: Mistakes in grammar can disrupt communication, such as abrupt changes in verb tense during a sentence.
Organizational Noise: Poorly structured communication can prevent the receiver from accurate interpretation. For example, unclear and badly stated directions can make the receiver even more lost.
Cultural Noise: Stereotypical assumptions can cause misunderstandings, such as unintentionally offending a non-Christian person by wishing them a "Merry Christmas".
Psychological Noise: Certain attitudes can also make communication difficult. For instance, great anger or sadness may cause someone to lose focus on the present moment. Disorders such as Autism may also severely hamper effective communication.[12]

[edit] Communication as academic discipline

Communication as an academic discipline, sometimes called "communicology,"[13] relates to all the ways we communicate, so it embraces a large body of study and knowledge. The communication discipline includes both verbal and nonverbal messages. A body of scholarship all about communication is presented and explained in textbooks, electronic publications, and academic journals. In the journals, researchers report the results of studies that are the basis for an ever-expanding understanding of how we all communicate.
Communication happens at many levels (even for one single action), in many different ways, and for most beings, as well as certain machines. Several, if not all, fields of study dedicate a portion of attention to communication, so when speaking about communication it is very important to be sure about what aspects of communication one is speaking about. Definitions of communication range widely, some recognizing that animals can communicate with each other as well as human beings, and some are more narrow, only including human beings within the different parameters of human symbolic interaction

oral communication

[edit] Oral communication
Oral communication, while primarily referring to spoken verbal communication, typically relies on both words, visual aids and non-verbal elements to support the conveyance of the meaning. Oral communication includes discussion, speeches, presentations, interpersonal communication and many other varieties. In face to face communication the body language and voice tonality plays a significant role and may have a greater impact on the listener than the intended content of the spoken words.
A great presenter must capture the attention of the audience and connect with them. For example, out of two persons telling the same joke one may greatly amuse the audience due to his body language and tone of voice while the second person, using exactly the same words, bores and irritates the audience.[citation needed] Visual aid can help to facilitate effective communication and is almost always used in presentations for an audience.
A widely cited and widely misinterpreted figure used to emphasize the importance of delivery states that "communication comprise 55% body language, 38% tone of voice, 7% content of words", the so-called "7%-38%-55% rule".[2] This is not however what the cited research shows – rather, when conveying emotion, if body language, tone of voice, and words disagree, then body language and tone of voice will be believed more than words.[3][clarification needed] For example, a person saying "I'm delighted to meet you" while mumbling, hunched over, and looking away will be interpreted as insincere

Communications of The ACM(CACM)

Communications of the ACM (CACM) is the flagship monthly journal of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). First published in 1957, CACM is sent to all ACM members, currently numbering about 80,000. The articles are intended for readers with backgrounds in all areas of computer science and information systems. The focus is on the practical implications of advances in information technology and associated management issues; ACM also publishes a variety of more theoretical journals.
CACM straddles the boundary of a science magazine, professional journal, and a scientific journal. While the content is subject to peer review (and is counted as such in many university assessments of research output), the articles published are often summaries of research that may also be published elsewhere. Material published must be accessible and relevant to a broad readership. At the publisher's website, CACM is filed in the category "magazines

Types of communication


  • A radio communication system sends signals by radio Types of radio communication systems deployed depend on technology , standards , ...
    16 KB (2,183 words) - 10:39, 3 May 2011

  • Speech disorders or speech impediments are a type of communication disorder s where ... Many of these types of disorders can be treated by ...
    8 KB (1,069 words) - 20:05, 30 July 2011

  • Statistical multiplexing is a type of communication link sharing, very similar to dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA). a communication ...
    5 KB (740 words) - 01:56, 4 June 2011

  • An apostolic exhortation is a type of communication from the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church . It encourages a community of people to ...
    2 KB (230 words) - 07:42, 6 May 2011

  • Corporate communication is the message issued by a corporate organization, body, or ... organizations to strategically orchestrate all types of communication. ...
    14 KB (1,817 words) - 05:22, 18 June 2011

  • Communication for Development (C4D) is a broad term used to refer to all the different types of communication that need to take place in ...
    2 KB (265 words) - 13:43, 5 July 2011

  • used in biology and more indepth in biophysics and biochemistry to identify different types of communication methods between living cells. ...
    4 KB (603 words) - 23:34, 29 July 2011

  • Client-To-Client Protocol (CTCP) is a special type of communication between Internet Relay Chat (IRC) clients. CTCP is a common protocol ...
    2 KB (263 words) - 01:34, 20 July 2011

  • In ethics , and (in some places) in law and alternative forms of legal resolution such as mediation , some types of communication ...
    12 KB (1,706 words) - 18:10, 8 July 2011

  • In the study of the biological sciences the general term biocommunication is used to describe more specific types of communication ...
    4 KB (459 words) - 16:41, 27 July 2011

  • protocol is the specification of a set of rules for a particular type of communication . ... the IEEE , or the ISO organizations for other types. ...
    6 KB (892 words) - 08:04, 28 July 2011

  • Mission Type | Satellite communication |! Satellite of | Earth |! ... The aim of ETS-VIII is to enable satellite communication s with small terminals. ...
    3 KB (230 words) - 19:28, 5 April 2011

  • Mobile technology is a collective term used to describe the various types of cellular communication technology. Mobile CDMA technology

  • Animal Communication


  • Animal communication is any behavior on the part of one animal that has an effect ... communication or semiosis in animals; distinguishable ...
    34 KB (4,993 words) - 10:02, 27 July 2011

  • Human-animal communication is the communication ... between humans and other animals, from non-verbal cues ... , potentially, the use of a sophisticated ...
    14 KB (2,189 words) - 20:51, 13 June 2011

  • In the field of animal communication , an alarm signal is an antipredator ... Often, the animals can tell which member of the group is making ...
    13 KB (1,946 words) - 10:30, 23 July 2011

  • Interspecies communication is communication between different species of animals, plants, fungi or bacteria. Interspecies communication ...
    16 KB (2,461 words) - 06:36, 13 July 2011

  • mostly based on hormone s instead of neurons like in all major animals (except sponges). even examples of one-way-communication with animals. ...
    2 KB (343 words) - 00:01, 6 March 2011

  • Animal communication , a song or noise made by an animal such as: Bird call , part of a bird song. A command in square dancing, delivered by ...
    2 KB (255 words) - 19:03, 26 May 2011

  • study of") is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology . ... understand animals has made ... such as animal communication , ...
    30 KB (4,161 words) - 17:33, 11 July 2011

  • Animal language is the modeling of human language in non human animal systems. ... the communication methods these animals use and human language. ...
    28 KB (3,735 words) - 09:32, 16 July 2011

  • using animal experiments is a call for greater transparency and communication on ... September 2010 on the protection of animals used for ...
    10 KB (1,498 words) - 22:34, 7 July 2011

  • Haptic communication is the means by which people and other animals communicate via touching. component of nonverbal communication in ...
    27 KB (4,066 words) - 19:48, 29 June 2011

  • of proteins found in abundance in the urine and other secretion s of many animals. ... multiple roles in chemical communication between animals ...
    41 KB (5,516 words) - 22:28, 28 June 2011

  • field) , specializing in studying and developing domesticated animal communication. ... been to approach companion animals as language learners ...
    5 KB (716 words) - 08:23, 11 June 2011

  • Zoomusicology is the study of the music of animal s, or rather the musical aspect s of sound or communication produced and received by animals. ...
    5 KB (671 words) - 11:59, 3 August 2011

  • Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information . ... The broad field of animal communication encompasses most of the issues ...
    27 KB (3,447 words) - 16:58, 3 August 2011

  • of several books about nonverbal communication with animal s in the 1940s and '50s. ... Between Human Beings and Animals edited by Paul and ...
    2 KB (290 words) - 19:42, 1 January 2011

  • Certain episodes investigate certain types of animals, including ... species, such as "Animal Communication", "Animal Adaptation", and "Swimming". ...
    2 KB (212 words) - 11:35, 24 October 2010

  • Greeting is an act of communication in which human beings (as well as other members of the animal kingdom) intentionally make their ...
    13 KB (1,414 words) - 22:56, 4 August 2011

  • A talking animal or speaking animal refers to any form of non-human animal which can ... of animals have developed forms of Animal Communication ...
    10 KB (1,605 words) - 16:39, 9 July 2011

  • The Elgin Center is a non-profit research center which specializes in zoosemiotics , or animal communication. The Elgin Center carries out ...
    4 KB (582 words) - 17:41, 2 April 2011

  • It is most useful for communication between animals that rarely encounter each other

  • Communication in Scottland

    Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Alba, IPA: [ˈalË ̪apÉ™]) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom.[8][9][10] Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland includes over 790 islands[11] including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
    Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's largest financial centres.[12] Edinburgh was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century, which transformed Scotland into one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, was once one of the world's leading industrial cities and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. Scottish waters consist of a large sector[13] of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third largest city in Scotland, the title of Europe's oil capital.[14]
    The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707, although it had been in a personal union with the kingdoms of England and Ireland since James VI of Scotland succeeded to the English and Irish thrones in 1603. On 1 May 1707, Scotland entered into an incorporating political union with England to create the united Kingdom of Great Britain.[15][16] This union resulted from the Treaty of Union agreed in 1706 and enacted by the twin Acts of Union passed by the Parliaments of both countries, despite widespread protest across Scotland.[17][18] Scotland's legal system continues to be separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in public and in private law.[19]
    The continued existence of legal, educational and religious institutions distinct from those in the remainder of the UK have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and national identity since the Union.[20] In 1999, a devolved legislature, the Scottish Parliament, was founded with authority over many areas of home affairs following a successful referendum in 1997. In 2011 the SNP won an overall majority in the parliament and intend to hold a referendum on independence from the United Kingdom sometime in the current parliamentary term

    Communication of England

    England (Listeni/ˈɪŋɡlÉ™nd/) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom.[6][7][8] It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental Europe. Most of England comprises the central and southern part of the island of Great Britain in the North Atlantic. The country also includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
    The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world.[9] The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law — the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world — developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations.[10] The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation.[11] England's Royal Society laid the foundations of modern experimental science.[12]
    England's terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north (for example, the mountainous Lake District, Pennines, and Yorkshire Dales) and in the south west (for example, Dartmoor and the Cotswolds). London, England's capital, is the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures.[note 3] England's population is about 51 million, around 84% of the population of the United Kingdom, and is largely concentrated in London, the South East and conurbations in the Midlands, the North West, the North East and Yorkshire, which each developed as major industrial regions during the 19th century. Meadowlands and pastures are found beyond the major cities.
    The Kingdom of England—which after 1284 included Wales—was a sovereign state until 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union put into effect the terms agreed in the Treaty of Union the previous year, resulting in a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain.[13][14] In 1800, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, the Irish Free State was established as a separate dominion, but the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 reincorporated into the kingdom six Irish counties to officially create the current United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

    Communication Theory

    Human communication is understood in various ways by those who identify with the field. This diversity is the result of communication being a relatively young field of study, composed of a very broad constituency of disciplines. It includes work taken from scholars of Rhetoric, Journalism, Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, and Semiotics, among others. Cognate areas include biocommunication, which investigates communicative processes within and among non-humans such as bacteria, animals, fungi and plants, and information theory, which provides a mathematical model for measuring communication within and among systems.
    Generally, human communication is concerned with the making of meaning and the exchange of understanding about human devlopment. One model of communication considers it from the perspective of transmitting information from one person to another. In fact, many scholars of communication take this as a working definition, and use Lasswell's maxim, "who says what to whom in which channel with what effect," as a means of circumscribing the field of communication theory. Among those who subscribe to the transmission model are those who identify themselves with the communication sciences, and finds its roots in the studies of propaganda and mass media of the early 20th century.
    A simple communication model with a sender transferring a message containing information to a receiver.
    Other commentators claim that a ritual process of communication exists, one not artificially divorcible from a particular historical and social context. This tradition is largely associated with early scholars of symbolic interactionism as well as phenomenologists

    Information and communication technology

    Information and communications technology or information and communication technology,[1] usually called ICT, is often used as an extended synonym for information technology (IT), but is usually a more general term that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), intelligent building management systems and audio-visual systems in modern information technology. ICT consists of all technical means used to handle information and aid communication, including computer and network hardware, communication middleware as well as necessary software. In other words, ICT consists of IT as well as telephony, broadcast media, all types of audio and video processing and transmission and network based control and monitoring functions.[2] The expression was first used in 1997[3] in a report by Dennis Stevenson to the UK government[4] and promoted by the new National Curriculum documents for the UK in 2000.
    ICT is often used in the context of "ICT roadmap" to indicate the path that an organization will take with their ICT needs.[5]
    The term ICT is now also used to refer to the merging (convergence) of audio-visual and telephone networks with computer networks through a single cabling or link system. There are large economic incentives (huge cost savings due to elimination of the telephone network) to merge the audio-visual, building management and telephone network with the computer network system using a single unified system of cabling, signal distribution and management. See VOIP and Intelligent Infrastructure Management (IIM). This in turn has spurred the growth of organizations with the term ICT in their names to indicate their specialization in the process of merging the different network systems.
    "ICT" is used as a general term for all kinds of technologies which enable users to create, access and manipulate information. ICT is a combination of information technology and communications technology.
    In an increasingly interconnected world, the interactions among devices, systems, and people are growing rapidly. Businesses need to meet the demands of their employees and customers to allow for greater access to systems and information. All of these communications needs must be delivered in a unified way. By offering a scalable infrastructure, cloud computing models enable companies to work smarter through more agile and cost-effective access to technology and information. This unified platform reduces costs and boosts productivity across a business and beyond. Part of an information and communications technology roadmap should involve consolidating infrastructures, while providing added benefits to users in collaboration, messaging, calendaring, instant messaging, audio, video, and Web conferencing. Cloud computing is driving more efficient IT consumption and delivery and taking ICT to the next level

    Telecommunication

    Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded drumbeats, lung-blown horns, or sent by loud whistles, for example. In the modern age of electricity and electronics, telecommunications now also includes the use of electrical devices such as telegraphs, telephones, and teleprinters, the use of radio and microwave communications, as well as fiber optics and their associated electronics, plus the use of the orbiting satellites and the Internet.
    A revolution in wireless telecommunications began in the first decade of the 20th century with pioneering developments in wireless radio communications by Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi. Marconi won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909 for his efforts. Other highly notable pioneering inventors and developers in the field of electrical and electronic telecommunications include Charles Wheatstone and Samuel Morse (telegraph), Alexander Graham Bell (telephone), Edwin Armstrong, and Lee de Forest (radio), as well as John Logie Baird and Philo Farnsworth (television).
    Telecommunications play an important role in the world economy and the worldwide telecommunication industry's revenue was estimated to be $3.85 trillion in 2008.[1] The service revenue of the global telecommunications industry was estimated to be $1.7 trillion in 2008, and is expected to touch $2.7 trillion by 2013.

    Communication Studies

    Communication studies is an academic field that deals with processes of communication, commonly defined as the sharing of symbols over distances in space and time. Hence, communication studies encompasses a wide range of topics and contexts ranging from face-to-face conversation to speeches to mass media outlets such as television broadcasting. Communication studies, as a discipline, is also often interested in how audiences interpret information and the political, cultural, economic, and social dimensions of speech and language in context.
    Communication is institutionalized under many different names at different universities and in various countries, including "communication", "communication studies", "speech communication", "rhetorical studies", "communications science", "media studies", "communication arts", "mass communication", "media ecology," and sometimes even "mediology" although the latter is a different area of study. Communication studies often overlaps with academic programs in journalism, film and cinema, radio and television, advertising and public relations and performance studies. Recently, institutions have migrated towards the common term of "communication studies" to encapsulate and cohere the vast depth and breadth of the field.
    In the United States, the National Communication Association (NCA) recognizes nine distinct but often overlapping sub-disciplines within the broader communication discipline: Communication & Technology, Critical-Cultural, Health, Intercultural-International, Interpersonal-Small Group, Mass Communication, Organizational, Political, and Rhetorical. The International Communication Association (ICA) recognizes a much larger and evolving list of sections, including among others Communication History; Communication Law and Policy; Ethnicity and Race in Communication; Feminist Scholarship; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies; Global Communication and Social Change; Information Systems; Instructional/Developmental Communication; Journalism Studies; Language and Social Interaction; Organizational Communication; Philosophy of Communication; Political Communication; Popular Communication; Public Relations; and Visual Communication Studies.
    Communication studies is often considered a part of both the social sciences and the humanities, drawing heavily on fields such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, biology, political science, and economics as well as rhetoric, literary studies, linguistics, and semiotics. The field can incorporate and overlap with the work of other disciplines as well, however, including engineering, architecture, mathematics, computer science, gender and sexuality studies.
    The vast breadth and interdisciplinary nature of communication studies has understandably made it difficult for both students and institutions to place it within the broader educational system. Despite intellectual incoherence, the field attracts and sustains large numbers of students, scholarly journals, professional associations, and lively discussions across the academy for researchers, educators, lawmakers, businesses, and reformers. Broadly understood, the contemporary study of communication per se interfaces and overlaps with areas such as business, organizational development, philosophy, languages, composition, theatre, debate (often called "forensics"), literary criticism, sociology, psychology, history, anthropology, semiotics, international policy, economics and political science, among others. The breadth and the primacy of communication in many areas of life is responsible for the ubiquity of communication studies, as well as for the resulting confusion about what does and does not constitute communication. Ongoing debates rage whether communication studies can best be understood as a discipline, a field, or simply a topic

    Communication satellite

    A communications satellite (sometimes abbreviated to COMSAT) is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications. Modern communications satellites use a variety of orbits including geostationary orbits, Molniya orbits, other elliptical orbits and low (polar and non-polar) Earth orbits.
    For fixed (point-to-point) services, communications satellites provide a microwave radio relay technology complementary to that of communication cables. They are also used for mobile applications such as communications to ships, vehicles, planes and hand-held terminals, and for TV and radio broadcasting, for which application of other technologies, such as cable television, is impractical or impossible.
    The first artificial satellite was the Soviet Sputnik 1, launched on October 4, 1957, and equipped with an on-board radio-transmitter that worked on two frequencies, 20.005 and 40.002 MHz. With the launch of Alouette 1 in 1962 Canada became the third country to put a man-made satellite into space. Because Canada did not have any domestic launch capabilities of its own, (and still does not), Alouette 1, which was entirely built and funded by Canada, was launched by the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from Vandenberg AFB in California. The first American satellite to relay communications was Project SCORE in 1958, which used a tape recorder to store and forward voice messages. It was used to send a Christmas greeting to the world from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. NASA launched an Echo satellite in 1960; the 100-foot (30 m) aluminized PET film balloon served as a passive reflector for radio communications. Courier 1B, built by Philco, also launched in 1960, was the world’s first active repeater satellite.
    Telstar was the first active, direct relay communications satellite. Belonging to AT&T as part of a multi-national agreement between AT&T, Bell Telephone Laboratories, NASA, the British General Post Office, and the French National PTT (Post Office) to develop satellite communications, it was launched by NASA from Cape Canaveral on July 10, 1962, the first privately sponsored space launch. Telstar was placed in an elliptical orbit (completed once every 2 hours and 37 minutes), rotating at a 45° angle above the equator.
    An immediate antecedent of the geostationary satellites was HughesSyncom 2, launched on July 26, 1963. Syncom 2 revolved around the earth once per day at constant speed, but because it still had north-south motion, special equipment was needed to track it