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developments set the stage for the rapid growth of communication as an
independent discipline (Ruben 1984).

Symbols as Concepts

All animals, including man, live in a world made up of signs and stimuli
from the physical and non-physical objects in the world. There are two types
of signs, which are defined by the ways in which animals respond to them—
signals and symbols. With the exception of man, all animals are restricted
to the use of signals. Signals are stimuli which have come to be associated
with various physical objects. Pavlov’s dog salivating at the sound of a bell
is a good example of an animal responding to a signal. A bell immediately
precedes a notion of food to the dog. The dog is hungry and salivates when
he sees and smells food. After a while he associates the bell as a signal that
is associated with the notion of food. Hence, he salivates when he hears
the bell.
Man has the capacity to use signs as symbols. He can conceptualize a
plate of food. Symbols are signs, which lead to the conceptualization of their
referents (Hawes 1975).

From Smoke Signals to Printing
Early humans (around 2000 BC) first carved symbols on the walls of caves
and used drums and smoke to signal one another. With these very primitive
common devices, the foundations of our modern information processing
technologies were put firmly in place. While smoke signals and cave draw-
ings served their purposes well, the development of the first systems of
writing dramatically increased the possibilities of making coded data more
permanent and portable. By about 1000 BC early pictographic writing had
given way to systems of writing that made use of an alphabet. Paper was
invented by about 100 AD and the oldest known printed piece was a Sutra
printed in Korea in 750 AD.

hisToriCal Dimension

The human voice reached only those within its range and the written
message travelled no faster than a runner, a horse, a bird, or a sailing ship.
The Hindu temples in the countries of Southeast Asia are striking evidences
of this mobility of ideas and flow of information. The teachings of Buddha,
Christ, and Mohammed were effectively carried to remote places at a time
when travel was slow, arduous and dangerous.

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