Technical Communication - Introduction

Technical Communication is a broad term which includes technical writing, instructional designing, graphics, website designing or any form of communication which helps in communicating the technical information in a simpler way to the targeted user. This also includes audio tapes, video films and micro clips.

History of Communication

The history of communications dates back to the pre-historic times when our ancestors used to communicate with the help of signs, flags, drums, fire, making odd noises. Those were the times when any language was not developed to communicate effectively.

Timeline

Prehistoric Era: 45,000 - 3501 B.C.

45,000 BC: Neanderthal Man carves on Wooly Mammoth tooth, discovered near Tata, Hungary
30,000: Horse engraved on pelvis bone. Ivory horse, oldest known animal carving, from mammoth ivory, discovered near Vogelherd, Germany.
Sketch of Cro Magnon engravingmay be lunar notation. The Cro-Magnon notation, possibly of phases of the moon, carved onto bone, discovered at Blanchard, France.
c. 10,000: Engraved antler baton, with seal, salmon and plants portrayed, discovered at Montgaudier, France
c. 8,000 -- 3100 BC: In Mesopotamia, tokens used for accounting and record keeping

3500 -- 59 B.C.
3500 BC: In Sumer, pictographs of accounts written on clay tablets.
3400-3100: Inscription on Mesopotamian tokens overlap with pictography
2600: Egyptian Book of the Dead,Scribes employed in Egypt.
2400: In India, engraved seals identify the writer.
2400: Cuneiform
2200: Date of oldest existing document written on papyrus.
1500: Phoenician Script
1400: Oldest record of writing in China, on bones.
1270: Syrian scholar compiles an encyclopedia.
900: China has an organized postal service for government use.
775: Greeks develop a phonetic alphabet, written from left to right.
530: In Greece, a library.
500: Greek telegraph: trumpets, drums, shouting, beacon fires, smoke signals, mirrors.
500: Persia has a form of pony express.
500: Chinese scholars write on bamboo with reeds dipped in pigment.
400: Chinese write on silk as well as wood, bamboo.
200: Books written on parchment and vellum.
200: Tipao gazettes are circulated to Chinese officials.
59: Julius Caesar orders postings of Acta Diurna.

1 - 1099 A.D.

100: Roman couriers carry government mail across the empire.
105: T'sai Lun invents paper.
175: Chinese classics are carved in stone which will later be used for rubbings.
180: In China, an elementary zoetrope.
200:Swedish Runes
250: Paper use spreads to central Asia.
350: In Egypt, parchment book of Psalms bound in wood covers.
450: Ink on seals is stamped on paper in China. This is true printing.
600: Books printed in China.
700: Sizing agents are used to improve paper quality.
751: Paper manufactured outside of China, in Samarkand by Chinese captured in war.
765: Picture books printed in Japan.
840: Carolingian Script
868: The Diamond Sutra, a block-printed book in China.
950: Paper uses spreads west to Spain.
950: Folded books appear in China in place of rolls.
950: Women in a Chinese harem invent playing cards.
1000: Mayas in Yucatan, Mexico make writing paper from tree bark.
1035: Japanese use waste paper to make new paper.
1049: Pi Sheng fabricates movable type, using clay.

1100 - 1399 A.D.
1116: Chinese sew pages to make stitched books.
1140: In Egypt, cloth is stripped from mummies to make paper.
1147: Crusader taken prisoner returns with paper making art, according to a legend.
1190:
Chinese Calligraphy,A Seven Word Poem,Yeh-lu Ch'u-ts'ai
1200: European monasteries communicate by letter system.
1200: University of Paris starts messenger service.
1241: In Korea, metal type.
1250: Mayan Codex
1282: In Italy, watermarks are added to paper.
1298: Marco Polo describes use of paper money in China.
1300: Wooden type found in central Asia.
1305: Taxis family begins private postal service in Europe.
1309: Paper is used in England.
1392: Koreans have a type foundry to produce bronze characters.

1400 - 1599 A.D.
1423: Europeans begin Chinese method of block printing.
1450: A few newsletters begin circulating in Europe.
1451: Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg uses a press to print an old German poem.
1452: Metal plates are used in printing.
1453: Gutenberg's Type, Gutenberg prints the 42-line
1457: Bible. 1st book printed in color, by Fust and Schoeffer
1464: King of France establishes postal system.
1490: Printing of books on paper becomes more common in Europe.
1495: A paper mill is established in England.
1500: Arithmetic + and - symbols are used in Europe.
1500: By now approximately 35,000 books have been printed, some 10 million copies.
1520: Spectacles balance on the noses of Europe's educated.
1533: A postmaster in England.
1545: Garamond designs his typeface.
1550: Wallpaper brought to Europe from China by traders.
1560: In Italy, the portable camera obscura allows precise tracing of an image.
1560: Legalized, regulated private postal systems grow in Europe.
1565: The pencil.