communication: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos and Videos

A woman telephone operator wearing a headset sits at a manual switchboard, connecting calls by plugging cords into rows of jacks, circa 1900.

Shannon's communication model

Side-by-side screens: left, vintage TV with black-and-white party scene labeled then; right, still from the Apple TV+ series Severance labeled now.

See the efforts of the University of Melbourne in providing intensive classes to teach Australian sign language, commonly known as Auslan taught wholly by deaf teachers

Discover how internet English affects the spoken English language

Portrait of Alexander Graham Bell with an early telephone device positioned in front of him, symbolizing the first telephone call in history.

Explore the health benefits of laughter and how contagious it can be

See All Videos and Images →

Topics

Language public opinion Animal communication information theory body language signaling signal social interaction sign content analysis drug use Reproductive behaviour Locomotion collective behavior humor thought Aggressive behaviour Feeding behaviour Avoidance behaviour bystander effect

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

United Kingdom: The revolution in communications

Key People

default image

Jean-Marie Messier

French businessman

default image

Ernest G. Bormann

American communication theorist

default image

Maxwell McCombs

American professor

default image

Wilbur Schramm

American scholar

Juergen Habermas speaks at a podium, gesturing with one hand, in front of a backdrop with repeated SPD logos at the Willy Brandt House in Berlin.

Jürgen Habermas

German philosopher

default image

Elihu Katz

American sociologist

default image

Robert K. Merton

American sociologist

Hand with pencil writing on page. (handwriting; write)

Word Nerd Quiz

Armed Forces Radio Services broadcaster Jack Brown interviews Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall for broadcast to troops overseas during World War II.

Communications Firsts Quiz

A young boy dressed in retro 1980s attire, with bow tie and eyeglasses, wears a light bulb idea invention machine to help him think of the next big idea. (nerd, nerdy, thinker) SEE CONTENT NOTES.

Are You An Idiom Savant? Quiz