To students:

The idea for this compilation began with students in two ways. First, students asked why, in the Internet age, do we have a book? The answer to the question is complex, but the short answer is that not all information is equal. What this book contains is authoritative information, thanks to the Internet age and to open education resources. Second, I noticed some students didn’t buy the required, commercial textbook, and I could tell that they didn’t get enough from class discussions alone. This document is my attempt to provide that information in an affordable way.

This book’s appearance may seem a bit messy, but the information is well-researched, drawn from a wide variety of perspectives on communication and written by communication scholars. I believe this course will make a difference in your life as a community member, as a family member, in your career, and in your relationships. Having the information in this book will help you effectively learn the communication skills and concepts you need.

Please read this book selfishly, for what you find that is valuable for you. But also be a little selfless. Help contribute to the open source method of learning. You, too, have a part to play in helping to keep materials free for all students. To help improve this book, you will need to read it and give feedback on it. Be sure to use the current 2019-2020 edition and be sure to bring a copy, electronic or print, with you to class every day.

To other readers:

Attribution

The majority of this text has been adapted from Communication in the Real World: An Introduction to Communication Studies v. 1.0. (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee). Attributions for two additional works are listed separately in their respective chapters.

Origins of this book

The majority of the present text is based on an open source textbook from a repository created by Andy Schmitz (http://2012books.lardbucket.org/). That textbook was later adapted by the Constitution Foundation (http://www.saylor.org/books/). I chose to use the Saylor version because it removed the stock photos that were in the original publisher’s version. This makes the current text rather plain, but I feel more confident that what I am using is truly open source. [Note: In August, 2019, I searched for the Word document I used at Saylor Academy, but it is no longer linked. The only remaining link is to Andy Schmitz’ web version.]

Fourth Compilation for 2019-2020

This document is the fourth version of this compilation, with more unused material deleted. I continue to correct typographic errors, and I have tried to make the fourth version more visually appealing. I have borrowed some of the formatting from the University of Minnesota Open Library version of this text, including a few open source images and captions. I will continue to refine it every school year. The next refinements will deal with the need to update the original 2012 text.

Tony Arduini – tony.arduini@kirkwood.edu