History of Communication Studies

• These study notes cover the origins and history of communication studies.

Early Communication Study

• Early forms of communication were expressed before the fifth century B.C., with classical Babylonian and Egyptian writings, alongside Homer's Iliad.
• An essay from approximately 3000 B.C., entitled The Precepts, provided guidance for Egyptian's on effective communication.
• Corax and Tisias from Greece were the first to develop the concept of message organization, suggesting that a message should have three parts like an introduction, body, and conclusion.
• In the fifth century B.C., a sophist established a small rhetoric school.
• Protagoras of Abdera taught the modern idea of debate - including that a good speaker is able to argue for both sides. He also taught public speaking concepts.
• Gorgias of Leontini was among the first to advocate for emotional appeals in persuasive speeches.
• Isocrates believed that an orator needed to be trained in the liberal arts, and be a good person.
• Cicero and Quintilian contributed to the broadening theory of communication, focusing on rhetorical theories and saw communication as an academic and practical matter.
• Quintillian provided communicator education guidelines.
• Sir Francis Bacon proposed an ethical basis for communication and argued that the function of true rhetoric was to promote good.
• There was a stylised mode of delivery using vocal manipulation and physical gesture produced by The National Association of Elocutionists.
• George Campbell argued that rhetoric has four purposes: to enlighten, please the imagination, move the passions, or influence the will.
• Hugh Blair introduced theories applicable to both writing and speaking.
• Journalism significantly contributed to the heritage of communication study. Journalism started almost 3,700 years ago in Egypt where events were transcribed on an Egyptian king's tomb.
• Julius Caesar kept official records of the news and had it posted, and sold, in public places.
• Newspapers emerged in a modern form in around the mid 1600s.
• Public Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestic was the first paper publishied in the United States which appeared in 1690 in Boston.
• British colonial authorities shut down Public Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestic for printing information that offended the governor.

The 1900s-1930s: Development of Speech and Journalism

• The Eastern Communication Association was formed in 1909, and held their first annual conference in 1910.
• The National Communication Association was formed in 1914.
• The Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking which were monographs began publication in 1934 after being started in 1915.
• The University of Wisconsin offered journalism courses in 1905 when there were few books on the topic.
• Almost half a dozen volumes were available by 1910, and between 1910 and 1920, approximately twenty-five works on journalism and newspaper work were written.

The 1940s-1950s: Interdisciplinary Growth

• Anthropology research on body positioning and gestures in particular cultures acted as background for studies of non-verbal communication.
• Phycology focused on persuasion, social influence, attiudes, how they're formed, how they change as well as their influence.
• Researchers showed concern with issues of persuasion, including propaganda, public opinion, and how media contributed to persuasive efforts.
• Studies in rhetoric and speech broadened by the late 40s and 50s to include oral interpreation, diction, debate, theatre, speech physiology and speech pathology.
• In journalism and mass media studies, popularity of television and understanding its impact spurred growth .

The 1960s: Integration

• Communication was of interest in many disciplines.
• Sociologist started to focus on group dynamics, social relations, and the social origins of knowledge.
• Political scientists wrote about the role of communication in governments, governance, public opinion, propaganda and politics.

The 1970s and Early 1980s: Growth and Specialisation

• Interpersonal communication and nonverbal interaction became more popular.
• Areas such as instructional, therapeutic, and developmental communication became attractive to professional and researchers.
• In 1975, The Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage listed communication as a "vogue word".
• Communication science or communication studies refer to the discipline, communicologist and communication scientist or communication researcher refer to those working in it. Communication professional refers to individuals engaged in communication activities.
• Communications refers to media or specific messages transmitted through those media, where as communication activity refers to sending and receiving messages through the media or face-to-face.

The Late 1980s and 1990s: The Information Age

• In the 1980s and 1990s, more interest was shown in communication via messages as an economic good or commodity that can be bought and sold.
• Over this period of time the technologies to create, distribute, store, retrieved, and used media also saw more interest.
• During these years, media were brought together to form new hybrid technologies permitted to sources/receivers for communication.

The 21st Century: Communication Study Today

• In the 1900s, communication emerged as a field relating to the study of human behaviour.
• Links with cognitive psychology, neuroscience, information science, journalism, literature, marketing, philosophy, economics, computer science and engineering were created.
• Communication is essential in all forms of our lifes
• The new advancements in technology provide permanence and portability to all messages for face-to-face interactions
• Communication is both a solution and a problem
• Communication is skills, techniques which go back to all aspects of physical, personal, social, political, and cultural existence.

Explore the origins of communication studies, from ancient Egyptian writings to Greek sophists like Corax and Protagoras. Learn about early rhetoric schools and the development of message organization. Discover the evolution of public speaking and persuasive techniques.