Communication is the act of conveying information for the purpose of creating a shared understanding.

Its something that humans do every day. The word communication comes from the Latin communis, meaning to share, and includes verbal, non-verbal and electronic means of human interaction. Scholars who study communication analyze the development of communication skills A gentleman orders a coffee in a crowded cafe. The young woman in line behind him shoots a withering look at the rambunctious toddler tugging on her coat. From the radio blares an advertisement for a one-day sale at the mall. At a nearby table, a deaf couple signs to each other, while a teenager in the corner busily texts a friend on his cell phone. These situations all have one thing in common. They all involve communication.in humans and theorize about how communication can be made more effective. Humans convey information through a variety of methods: speaking, telephones, email, blogs, TV, art, hand gestures, facial expressions, body language and even social contexts. Communication can occur instantaneously in closed, intimate settings or over great periods of time in large public forums, like the Internet. However, all forms of communication require the same basic elements: a speaker or sender of information, a message, and an audience or recipient. The sender and recipient must also share a common language or means of understanding each other for communication to be successful. As such, a study of communication often examines the development and structure of language, including the mathematical languages used in computer programming. The act of communicating draws on several interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. These include speaking, listening, observing, questioning, processing, analyzing and evaluating. Recipients of a message must be able to identify the senders intent, take into account the messages context, resolve any

misunderstandings, accurately decode the information and decide how to act on it. Such skills are essential to learning, forming healthy relationships, creating a sense of community and achieving success in the workplace. As a field of study, communication spans a broad, rich array of subjects, including sociology, psychology, philosophy, political science, linguistics, history, literature, criticism and rhetoric. Although much of the fields subject matter is

theoretical in nature, communication studies have proven applicable to business, film, theater, composition, advertising, education, foreign policy and computer science. In todays globalized, media-driven world, communication studies have become more relevant and exciting than ever. Web developers seek new, inventive ways to draw Internet users to their websites. Public policy writers debate societys most pressing issues. Through linguistics, computer scientists are developing programming languages that may someday allow humans to interact directly with computers. Students who earn degrees in communication often hold highly influential positions as journalists, editors, university professors, public relations officers, marketing consultants, speech writers, filmmakers, motivational speakers and political campaign managers. To communicate is to shape the world. Communication is the process of sharing information, thoughts and feelings between people through speaking, writing or body language. Effective

communication extends the concept to require that transmitted content is received and understood by someone in the way it was intended. The goals of effective communication include creating a common perception, changing behaviors and acquiring information.

Contexts of communication

Humans communicate with each other across time, space, and contexts. Those contexts are often thought of as the particular combinations of people comprising a communication situation. For example, theories of interpersonal communication address the communication between dyads (two people). Group communication deals with groups, organizational communication addresses organizations, mass communication encompasses messages broadcast, usually electronically, to mass audiences, intercultural communication looks at

communication among people of different cultures, and gender communication focuses on communication issues of women and between the sexes. Newer contexts include health communication and computer-mediated communication.

Contexts of communication are best thought of as a way to focus on certain communication processes and effects. Communication context boundaries are fluid. Thus, we can see interpersonal and group communication in organizations. Gender communication occurs whenever people of different sexes communicate. We can have mass communications to individuals, group, and organizations. Using communication contexts as a means to help us study communication helps us out of problems some people associate with the intrapersonal context (some say the "so-called" intrapersonal context). Some people facetiously say intrapersonal communication exists when someone talks to themselves. It's more accurate to define intrapersonal communication as thinking. While thinking normally falls within the purview of psychology we can recognize that we often think, plan, contemplate, and strategize about communication past, present, and future. It is legitimate to study the cognitive aspects of communication processes. So, even if some people call those cognitive aspects of communication thinking, it can be helpful to allow the context of intrapersonal communication to exist, thereby legitimating an avenue of communication research.

Body language. Non-verbal communication components such as natural gestures, body posture, eye contact and facial expression are generally referred to as body language. The term body language is potentially confusing, however, as language implies a systematic, rule-governed use of symbols. Body language is not systematic in the same way as verbal language and the lack of systematicity imposes severe limitations on attempts to communicate solely by non-verbal means. For example, even when a particular non-verbal component may be consistently interpretable as meaning just one thing (e.g. a thumbs-up gesture may be interpretable as good in all instances within a particular culture) it is not possible to use such components to communicate anything but the most basic information. For example, it is not generally possible to communicate the proposition, Its a lot colder today than it was

yesterday so I think Ill wear my heavy, red parka rather than my summer jacket that Sarah bought me for my last birthday using cosmetic make-up or eyebrow movements. Only language (verbal communication) can achieve this level of sophistication because it is capable of systematically combining symbols according to set rules. Having said this, body language is, of course, useful. It augments our verbal communication and is particularly useful when communicating in face-to-face situations. It serves to enhance our spoken communication (verbal communication) by signaling such things as our attention, whether we are bored, whether we intend to interrupt, and so on. There are two broad divisions of non-verbal communication the first is static: things that do not usually change during the course of an interaction (e.g. hair colour, gender, cosmetic make up) and second is dynamic: things that can change frequently during face-to-face interactions with others (e.g. eye movement, eye gaze, facial expression). Body language that is inconsistent with content creates a question in the mind of the listener about the real message. For example, someone may be saying, "I really want to hear your opinion on this." However if the person is looking away, has his arms folded or is typing a text message at the same time, his body language communicates an entirely different message. Effective communication requires that content and body language give the same message.

Interference Emotions can interfere with effective communication. If the sender is angry, his ability to send effective messages may be negatively affected. In the same way, if the recipient is upset or disagrees with the message or the sender, he may hear something different that what was intended by the sender. Considering emotions, language and conceptual barriers is essential to effective communication. These interferences or noise may distract and prevent the receiver from paying full attention to the message. When this happens, the message may not be

heard and interpreted fully or correctly. Similarly, interferences may cause the speaker to lose concentration and this can lead to incomplete or erroneous communication on the part of the sender. As a result, receivers will interpret the messages wrongly and not as intended by the speaker.