What is communication?

Communication is the transfer of information between two or more parties. It can take many forms.

It can range from something as simple as a Stop sign to networks as complex and infinite as the Internet.


Communication is the basis of society. Without the transfer of knowledge or ideas there is no framework for the interpersonal relationships that make up our, or any, species.


Take a TV drama for example.
This is a highly polished form of communication. The writer, director, actor, cameraman, vision mixer, audio mixer... all of these people communicate their own version of the story to the viewer.

Or take our Stop sign; it is a message from the city planners that the intersection you are approaching is dangerous, and you should stop and survey the road before proceeding.

Communication can be as hard or as simple as you would like it to be. Therefore, in order to pull focus on this blog, I would like to define which forms of communication I will be dealing with.

The purpose of this blog is to inform and encourage theatre and broadcast professionals (my definition of the Performing Arts) about the methods of communication that directly affect them.

This includes, but isn't limited to:

• Telephones
• Production Communication Systems (e.g. Clearcom, RTS, Riedel)
• FM Radio Transmission (including 2-way radio)
• Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
• Packet-based networking

and so on.

The reason I'm doing this is to help both sides of the equation learn more about the other. Traditionally, performing arts technicians have had little to do with communications beyond a 2-channel "beltpack". Network administrators, on the other hand, had very little to do with the arts, and in many instances were banned from entering stage or studio areas except during planned maintenance.

However this has changed in the last few years. Many convergent technologies (I will define Convergence in a follow-up post) are meaning that networks are extending well into the realm of the arts to the point of running critical systems.

I hope that through my posts and the discussion created by them I can help spread the good word, as well as allay fears from both sides of the communication fence. Please feel free to comment at any time so that we can start a discussion.