EMC134 Words, Words, Words!! 1/4
To:   Emergency Communications Units - Information Bulletin
To:   Emergency Management Agencies via Internet and Radio
By:   Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) of the
      California Governor's Office of Emergency Services  

EMC134 Words, Words, Words!! 1/4    For release 5/25/98

Communication is usually considered to be a process of passing
intelligence from one person to another. With radio and Email we
use messages comprised of words and transmitted by voice or 
digital means. With telephones we use words heard by another
person, and with television we use words, sounds and pictures to
communicate.

But do we really "communicate"?  That is, do we "communicate"
the essence that is in the mind of the person originating the
idea, concept, phrase, sentence, paragraph or picture?

Do 100 people always interpret the same visual picture exactly
the same way?  Do the same 100 people always interpret the same
Email in similar ways? What about a radio message, a handwritten
letter, a typed letter, or a telephone conversation?

How many times in your life have you known for certain what you
stated or said to someone else, only to be astonished at how
they "heard" it in a totally different way? Or didn't hear it at
all?  It's like people hear selectively. 

Why is that, do you suppose? Perhaps combinations of words,
idioms and phrases "trigger" concepts and beliefs filed away in
the cupboard (or storehouse) of our mind, causing us to not hear
certain words or see certain facts?

At one time a study on how people communicate determined that
humans do so with words (7%), tone (28%) and body language (55%).

Now, let's consider Email and digital messages, which are words
without tones or body language. According to that study, then,
with Email (words only) we communicate about 7% of the time.
That being the case is it any wonder, that "flames" result? 
(Flames are emotional responses slamming another person for 
"perceived" concepts that may or may not be intended in the
original message.)

(Continues next week)
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_______________                             
ACS Web page: http://acs.oes.ca.gov       FTP archive:
ftp.ucsd.edu/hamradio/packet/tcpip/incoming for new
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Landline BBS: 916-262-0856 (graphical & standard interface).
State Chief ACS Officer Cary Mangum: Cary_Mangum@oes.ca.gov
EOM EMC134