Types of Communication

Networked computers are, like telephones, largely for communication; much of the information processing that they perform is directed towards communicating (and of course even when computers do a large amount of information processing other than in communication -- for example, weather forecasting -- they still eventually communicate the results to someone!)

So to look at how we can use a computer network, we must look at different kinds of communication, and, although the classifications we'll make are not hard boundaries, we can classify actions of communication by the numbers of entities originating the information and the number using it. Further on in this document, we'll use these classifications in discussing various situations where we communicate in our Christian life and ministries.

If you're reading this on-line, you will probably know most of the terms used; if you're not sure of any of them, take a look at the glossary, and the booklet Getting onto the Internet which has further explanation of some of the terms.

One-to-one

On the network, one-to-one communication usually takes place by email, which combines features of telephoning with those of writing -- it is almost as fast as phoning, but like a letter, the recipient doesn't have to be there at the time you send it. It's also easy to keep a copy for reference, if you realize that some of what you've written for someone may be useful to others later, such as instructions on how to do something. I've even found myself using email to the person on the next desk to me at work -- it doesn't disturb telephone conversations going on in the same office!

Many people now keep in touch with colleagues and friends by email, and sometimes count among their friends people who they have never met face to face (having met each other on discussions in mailing lists and newsgroups)... which some people find a worrying sign. I think it's encouraging that a new form of communication opens up possibilities that were not there before; it can be sad when it pushes aside old forms of communications. So if some of your friends are people you've never seen face-to-face, don't worry! The time to start worrying is when none of your friends are people you've met face-to-face! (In fact, some shy people find email liberating, and do feel more comfortable with it than with actually meeting... which is also relevant in many-to-many communication.)

One-to-many

In One-to-many communication, one person (or organization, working collectively) provides some information to many people. This can take a passive form (such as my preparation of this document for many people to read) in which the recipients typically pick the information up as part of their many-to-one communication (information gathering; see the next item in this list); or an active form, in which the writer sends a message (usually by email) to many recipients. If the recipients can reply to the author and to the other recipients, the communication becomes many-to-many, as described further down this list.

Active pure one-to-many communication is rare on the Internet; an example would be the secretary of an organization sending a bulletin to all the members. Typically, people will want to reply to and discuss such announcements, in a way which was not so easy when organizations had to send out their newsletters on paper. Also, many network users prefer to pick up information selectively, and rather than receiving an entire newsletter in their mailbox, would prefer to be sent just an announcement that a new issue is available for them to browse on a specified server.

Many-to-one

Many-to-one communication is what is happening when someone is searching actively for information about something. The information that they have provided will have been made available by someone else's one-to-many act of communication.

Many people find many-to-one communication particularly pleasant, as they set the pace and do not have information pushed at them. It is more like using a library than entering a discussion. On the whole, it is done using the World-Wide Web, sometimes with the help of search engines.

Many-to-many

Many-to-many communication usually takes place either by email (often using mailing lists, although it can be done simply by putting the addresses of the people you want to include in the discussion in the header of the original message, and letting mail systems' reply-to-all commands keep everyone on the recipients list of all replies) or by Usenet newsgroup or bulletin board conference.

A huge amount of information is pushed into people's mailboxes by disucssions using mailiing lists, and some people feel obliged to try to read it all, which can be overwhelming. A newsgroup is easier to read selectively, although many modern email programs give you similar facilities for email.

Sometimes people will "take something off-line", by which they mean they find someone's message interesting but would like to discuss it just with the author, and not with everyone on the list. This takes you into one-to-one communication... and many new friendships are formed this way.

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