Page 77 - DLIS408_INFORMATION_TECHNOLOGY-APPLICATIONSL SCIENCES

Information Technology and Application

Notes

Did u know? Essentially, the primary function of communication is to inform, educate,
entertain, and persuade people.

Following are the basic functions of communication:
Education and Instruction: The function of education starts early in life, at home and in
school and continues throughout life. Communication provides knowledge, expertise and
skills for smooth functioning by people in the society. It creates awareness and gives
opportunity to people to actively participate in public life.
Information: Quality of our life will be poor without information. The more informed we
are the more powerful we become. Communication provides information about our sur-
roundings. Information regarding wars, danger, crisis, famine, etc. is important for the
safety and well being of our life.
Entertainment: To break the routine life and divert our attention from the stressful life we
lead today, entertainment is an essential part of everybody’s life. Communications pro-
vide endless entertainment to people through films, television, radio, drama, music, lit-
erature, comedy, games, etc.
Discussion: Debates and discussions clarify different viewpoints on issues of interest to the
people. Through communication we find out reasons for varying viewpoints and impart
new ideas to others.
Persuasion: It helps in reaching for a decision on public policy so that it is helpful to govern
the people. Though it is possible that one can resort to persuasion for a bad motive. Thus,
the receiver must be careful about the source of persuasion.
Cultural promotion: Communication provides an opportunity for the promotion and
preservation of culture and traditions. It makes the people fulfill their creative urges.
Integration: It is through communication that a large number of people across countries
come to know about each other’s traditions and appreciate each other’s ways of life. It
develops integration and tolerance towards each other.

Self Assessment

Multiple choice questions:
5. The act of communication is referred to as:
(a) Transmission (b) Skills
(c) Communications (d) Emotions.
6. Communication is derived from the latin noun......
(a) Community (b) Communis
(c) Communicare (d) Transmission
7. Communication is more than mere transferring or transmission of:
(a) Ideas (b) Thoughts (c) Ideas or Thoughts (d) None of them.
8. Quality of our life will be poor without:
(a) Information (b) Communication
(c) Discussion (d) Entertainment

6.5 Fundamentals of Communication Media
Various types of media (also called channels) are used to transmit digital signals over networks.
The proper selection of media for data transmission is the main consideration while installing
networks. This is mainly due to the following reasons:
The efficiency of the transmission medium depends upon the characteristics of the medium.
The form of transmitted signal must exactly match the media chosen.
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