Definition of Communication

Communication (from Latin "communis", meaning to share) is the activity of conveying information through the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behavior.
Communication is defined by de Valenzuela as “any act by which one person gives to or receives from another person information about that person's needs, desires, perceptions, knowledge, or affective states. Communication may be intentional or unintentional, may involve conventional or unconventional signals, may take linguistic or nonlinguistic forms, and may occur through spoken or other modes.”
Communication requires a sender, a message, and a recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast distances in time and space. Communication requires that the communicating parties share an area of communicative commonality. The communication process is complete once the receiver has understood the message of the sender.
The Source idea is the process by which one formulates an idea to communicate to another party. This process can be influenced by external stimuli such as books or radio, or it can come about internally by thinking about a particular subject. The source idea is the basis for the communication.
The Message is what will be communicated to another party. It is based on the source idea, but the message is crafted to meet the needs of the audience. For example, if the message is between two friends, the message will take a different form than if communicating with a superior.

Encoding is how the message is transmitted to another party. The message is converted into a suitable form for transmission. The medium of transmission will determine the form of the communication. For example, the message will take a different form if the communication will be spoken or written.

The Channel is the medium of the communication. The channel must be able to transmit the message from one party to another without changing the content of the message. The channel can be a piece of paper, a communications medium such as radio, or it can be an email. The channel is the path of the communication from sender to receiver. An email can use the Internet as a channel.

The Receiver is the party receiving the communication. The party uses the channel to get the communication from the transmitter. A receiver can be a television set, a computer, or a piece of paper depending on the channel used for the communication.

Decoding is the process where the message is interpreted for its content. It also means the receiver thinks about the message's content and internalizes the message. This step of the process is where the receiver compares the message to prior experiences or external stimuli.

Feedback is the final step in the communications process. This step conveys to the transmitter that the message is understood by the receiver. The receiver formats an appropriate reply to the first communication based on the channel and sends it to the transmitter of the original message.