To students:
The idea for this compilation began with students like you 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 valuable. But also be a little selfless. Help contribute to the open source method of learning, if you get the opportunity. 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 edition and be sure to bring a copy, in electronic or print form, with you to class every day.
To all readers:
Sixth Compilation for 2022-2023
The goal of this compilation was to update the 2012 material, including newer information about evaluating sources, self-presentation online, and presenting speeches online. A few smaller details have been updated as well, such as some images from the Obama administration. I did not fix outdated links to web citations. Anyone interested in that information can search the Internet Archive Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org) with the outdated URLs.
This book is primarily designed for print and PDF usage, but I have added H5P exercises on persuasion and outlining, which are available in the web book version.
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. It was also the only version converted to Microsoft Word, which was needed for creating a good, editable Pressbook 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-based version.]
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 additional works are listed separately in their respective chapters.
Tony Arduini – tony.arduini@kirkwood.edu, tarduini@gmail.com
