[Air-l] Is all Communication Commercial?

[Alexander Kuskis]

As a matter of clarification, I was not expanding the concept of commerce
"to its fullest reaches", but simply pointing to the fact that since writing
itself derives from a transactional impulse, the need to maintain records of
commercial exchanges using markings on clay tokens, that the connection
between communication and commerce has been a close one, at least since
classical times. The words "commerce" and "communication" share the same
Latin root word "com", meaning "together" and our word "communication"
derives from the Latin, "communicare", meaning "to impart, share" or "make
common" 
( http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=c&p=20 ).

And to reply to Charlie Balch, my point was that every major communication
technology, from the printing press to the Internet has been adopted by
business, usually sooner rather than later, both for transactional and
marketing purposes. And yes, maybe that does make commerce "the oldest
profession", since the purveyors of what is usually taken to be the oldest
profession did engage in an exchange transaction for gain. That does not
mean there are not pockets of activity within every communication medium
that are antithetical to commerce, such as ham radio, open sourse software,
or the discussions on an academic list like this one. On the medium level,
business exploits radio, computer software, as well as most Internet genres
from discussion boards to blogs. 

All of this is in support of my contention that we do not need a new
terminology such as the proposed  ICE-T, because the word "communication"
subsumes all commercial exchange, whether it be transactional or
informational......Alex Kuskis

-----Original Message-----
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
[mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Ericka Menchen Trevino
Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2007 5:09 PM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: Re: [Air-l] Is all Communication Commercial?

I guess commercial is another one of those concepts that can blanket
the whole world if a determined weaver puts her/his mind to it. Just
like Information, communication and technology, not to mention
society, culture. politics/power, and I've even heard literacy used
this way, which sounded like a stretch to me.

In some ways pulling a concept out to its fullest reaches is very
rewarding and exciting - who hasn't been enthralled by thinking
"circumstance x really is about [insert master concept here]" But I
can't help but think that a lot of this comes down to something more
like branding than understanding.

Ericka Menchen Trevino

On 7/12/07, Charlie Balch <charlie at balch.org> wrote:
> After making some very interesting points, Dr. Kuskis asks "Can anyone
name
> a communication technology that has not been used for commercial
purposes."
>
> What a great question! What do "communication technology" and "commercial"
> mean? Does altruism exist? Perhaps communication is the oldest profession.
I
> do not communicate unless I get some value from the communication. Value
can
> be measured in a number of ways -- nothing is going into my bank account
as
> result of my response to this question but I'm paying for the privilege to
> be able to respond and value the thoughts of other members of this list.
>
> Would Ham radio which explicitly does not allow commercial use qualify? I
> know that various organizations make some profit in materials useful in
> training for the ham license which has become a lot easier to get now that
> morse code is not required. Other companies earn money selling ham radio
> equipment.
>
> What about various open source software projects such as FileZilla and
VLC?
> I suppose they have also been used for commercial purposes too but the
> authors have not profited from such use. I don't recall seeing
> advertisements on Wikipedia either but I have seen some requests for
> donations.
>
> Hmmm. Even the AOIR list server has been used to distribute information
> about books and conferences. Does that make this list commercial?
>
> Charles Balch MEd, MBA, Ph.D.
> Professor of CIS
> Arizona Western College
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
> [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Alexander Kuskis
> Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 5:59 PM
> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
> Subject: Re: [Air-l] ICE-T again
>
> I don't think we need to bother with the dismal science in understanding
the
> link between communication and commerce. They have had a close
relationship
> at least since the invention of writing in Mesopotamia during the late 4th
> century BC. Denise Schmandt-Besserat has traced the origin of writing
itself
> to the symbols and markings made on clay tokens used for accounting
purposes
> in the 4th Century BC Middle East, roughly jn the area where Iraq is
today.
> See http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exschhop.html . Furthermore,
> business has been quick to adopt every major communication technology,
from
> Gutenberg's printing press up to our own era. The Internet is something of
> an exception in this regard, because commercial applications were
explicitly
> forbidden during its ARPANET and later NSF days. But business has more
than
> made up for it since. We need not invoke McLuhan's identification of money
> as a communication medium itself to understand commerce as communication.
> E-commerce, like e-learning, is simply a major application of ICT. Can
> anyone name a communication technology that has not been used for
commercial
> purposes?.........Alex
>
> Alex Kuskis, PhD
> Adjunct Professor
> MA Progam in Communication & Leadership
> School of Professional Studies
> Gonzaga University