Lisa Ann Wade

Conclusion
Human communication is the exchange of thoughts, messages or information among humans. The most basic expectation of human communication is that a message is sent and received among one or more individuals. The message can be sent verbally or non-verbally, but what is essential is that there is both a sender and a receiver or communication will not occur. However, for communication to be successful, the same message that was intended and coded by the sender must be the one that is decoded by the receiver. Unfortunately, the varied experiences and expectations among individual human beings may result in different interpretations among senders and receivers. While human communication may not be completely reliable, without it human civilization as we know it could never have been achieved. Although many people do not make it a practice to dwell upon human communication as a concept and often take it for granted, it is important to remember that without human communication we might find ourselves wandering alone in the woods, waiting for trees to fall on our heads.

References
Bunt, Henry. (1998). Issues in Multimodal Human-Computer Communication. In H. C. Bunt,
T. Borghuis & R. J. Beun (Eds.), Multimodal Human-Computer Communication:
Systems, Techniques and Experiments. 1-12. New York: Springer
Ruben, Brent D. and Budd, Richard W. (1978). Human Communications Handbook:
Simulations and Games. Rochelle Park, NJ: Hayden Book Company Inc.
Pickett, Joseph P. (Ed.) (2001). The American Heritage Dictionary (4th ed.). New York: Dell
Publishing
Shannon, C. E. (1948). A Mathematical Theory of Communication. The Bell System Technical
Journal, 27, 359-423.

Posted by Lisa Wade at 09:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Individual Differences
Brent Ruben and Richard Budd (1978) argue that individuals are central to the communication process because although a group may share a common experience, individuals perceive their environment differently from one another. In their book, Human Communication Handbook: Simulations and Games, Ruben and Budd contend that while individuals can grasp the theory that everyone else sees a different world than they do, many individuals find this concept difficult to put into practice.
Let us return to James and Becky. Becky begins to retreat into the woods and states, “There is something unusual about this place,” and James nods his head in agreement. Seemingly, James and Becky have reached an understanding, but this is not the case. As Becky, an avid outdoorswoman, enters the woods, she sees a beautiful forest like she has never beheld before, full of majestic trees with curious woodland critters, but James, a survivor of a bear attack, walks into that same woods and sees dangerously overgrown trees with blood thirsty beasts lurking around every one of them. The initial impressions that James and Becky create from the shared experience of walking into the woods can vary vastly because of the individual experiences that they have acquired over their lifetimes or even cultural differences. In order for humans to effectively communicate their messages they must try to bridge the gap of individual interpretation, otherwise shared understanding cannot occur.

Posted by Lisa Wade at 09:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Multimodal Human Communication
Of course, human communication is not limited to the use of one’s voice and another’s ears. Henry Bunt (1998) considers human communication to be naturally multimodal; that is human communication makes use of several communication systems both verbal and non-verbal including spoken and written language, non-linguistic sounds, and physical gestures. In his essay, “Issues in Multimodal Human-Computer Communication,” Bunt shares that digital technology can contribute to communication. In today’s world, technology is becoming increasingly relevant in human communication.
Becky and James can communicate in a variety of different ways without using their voices. Instead of shouting words to alert Becky to the danger of the toppling tree, James might try waving his arms wildly, or, if that fails, he might try letting out a high-pitched scream. If James and Becky are anything like the teenagers of our culture, James might not even consider shouting at Becky, instead reaching immediately for his cellular phone and rapidly “texting” her the message, “Move or U B kilt!” to which she might reply to James’s dismay, “Yah, rite. Lol ;).”

Posted by Lisa Wade at 09:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Shannon-Weaver Model
For a message to be exchanged there must be a human representing the information source and another human representing the destination. The Shannon-Weaver Model, as described by C. E. Shannon (1948), can be used to explain communication. The message leaves the information source through a transmitter where it is coded as a signal that can be carried across a channel to a receiver where the message is decoded at its destination.
We can use James and Becky as an example. James (the information source) codes his fear of Becky being hit by a falling tree into words that he shouts using his voice (the transmitter). The sound of his voice travels through the air (the channel) and is picked up by Becky’s ear (the receiver) which deliver the message to Becky’s brain (the destination) where it is decoded and Becky realizes that her life is in imminent danger.

Posted by Lisa Wade at 09:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I thought this was a subject that we would all have to face at some point or another. In fact my experiences yesterday reminded me that I really needed to start my blog so I could discuss this. We are or are becoming IT professionals. My transformation has already begun even if I haven't got my degree yet. I work in a job where I am expected to interact with other people on a daily basis and I am often expected to perform tasks on their computers.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been journeying to other departments in my building in order to document the various computers (assets) that the university own on to the myucs webpage. It is very simple. All I need to do is log on to myucs, take down the information of the computer (serial number, BSU number, processor speed etc.) and enter the information. The only other tasks I have is to download Windows Defender, make sure the firewall is on and make absolutely certain that the computer is receiving updates at 3:00 every day.

As you can see, I am not really doing anything. The only real change that should happen is that Windows Defender gets downloaded and that is a minor safety feature. The computer users should be informed enough to know to leave their firewalls on and to let their computers receive updates right? Don’t make that assumption. Even when it comes to basic things like firewalls and updates people can be scared and confused. It is our duty as IT professionals to treat each person with dignity and care even when we think they are being unreasonable.

I have been in two other departments now. The first department completely spoiled me. It seemed that most of the time I didn’t even have to enter all their computer information because they were already on myucs. Everyone in that department was willing to give me total control over their computer, they didn’t ask questions and the majority of them were there. They had received the message that I would be coming around and were more than happy to give me the space I need.

The next department would prove to be more difficult. When I walked into one office I was immediately accused of having wrecked one occupants computer and the other was afraid to let me touch hers. I told them calmly that there was nothing that I was doing that would harm their computers. However, that did not stop the tiraid. I just had to deal with it and my boss looked at their computers later and informed them that there was nothing that I did and all of their problems were their own fault for not keeping up careful maintenance. However, this whole experience made me nervous to even walk around in that department to help others.

I guess what I am trying to say is that despite everything, you have to keep a professional appearance and handle people politely. I'm certain that if you keep your head cool, you can get along with anyone, even those who seem intolerable. Sure, I was upset, but I didn't let them stop me from doing my job.

Posted by Lisa Wade at 05:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Without the ability to communicate, human beings would be of no use to one another. Individuals would stumble around unaware of anything outside of their own presence, unable to reach out to one another or to connect in a meaningful way. In fact, they might prefer wandering alone in the woods and running into trees. The purpose of this paper is to explore human communication, to clearly define what it is and to determine how it is successfully achieved.
Human beings use their senses to perceive and understand the world that they live in. We use our eyes to see and our ears to hear. However, these senses do not guarantee a common understanding among all human beings. For example, if James sees that a tree is about to fall on Becky, and Becky has her back to the tree, how can Becky determine that the tree is about to fall without actually seeing it herself? James shouts the message, “The tree is falling! Get out of the way!” and Becky, after receiving the message, runs away from the danger. James is able to send a message to Becky, which she can then interpret and react to appropriately. That is the beauty of successful human communication.
The American Heritage Dictionary (2001) defines communication as “the exchange of thoughts, messages or information.” Naturally, human communication is the exchange of thoughts, messages or information between humans.

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