represents the first attempt to survey--and, in many respects, to define--the communications field. In a clear, comprehensive, and authoritative way, the IEC covers all aspects of communication--individual and institutional, cultural and technological, practical and theoretical--in every part of the world. Broad in scope and interdisciplinary in coverage, the IEC contains more than 550 original articles written by a distinguished international group of contributors.Within the various entries, thousands of subjects are discussed: from simple physical gesture to speech, language, and alphabet; from fire signal to space satellite; from clay tablet to microchip. And, unlike other encyclopedias, the IEC approaches each topic from the unique perspective of the communications field, discussing communications research and scholarship as well as the links between communications and host of other disciplines--including anthropology, art, education, history, journalism, law, linguistics, literature, mathematics, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, science and technology, and sociology.A singular source of information encompassing a broad range of disciplines, the IEC is destined to become an indispensable reference for students, scholars, educators, professionals, and general readers, and an essentail resource for every library.

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