Non-verbal communication (NVC) is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages. Such messages can be communicated through gesture; body language or posture; facial expression and eye contact; object communication such as clothing, hairstyles or even architecture; symbols and infographics. Speech may also contain nonverbal elements known as paralanguage, including voice quality, emotion and speaking style, as well as prosodic features such as rhythm, intonation and stress. Likewise, written texts have nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words, or the use of emoticons.
However, much of the study of nonverbal communication has focused on face-to-face interaction, where it can be classified into three principal areas: environmental conditions where communication takes place, the physical characteristics of the communicators, and behaviors of communicators during interaction.
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Verbal or oral communication
The specific way of human communication that allows for the passage of information between two or more persons through verbal language, even if not with the significant use of non-verbal elements. There is a difference between verbal language and vocalization. In the second case, the term refers only to the possibility of producing sounds, while verbal language may be defined as the system of communication that utilizes the vocal-hearing channel, constituted by synthetically interconnected sounds. In language, Language, in this sense, is presented as a process of cultural type that is based on fundamental biological roots.
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Virtual Reality
Virtual reality is an artificial reality that projects the user into a 3D space generated by the computer. A virtual reality system uses stereoscopic goggles that provide the 3D imagery and some sort of tracking device, which may be the goggles themselves for tracking head and body movement, or a "data glove" that tracks hand movements. The glove lets you point to and manipulate computer-generated objects displayed on tiny monitors inside the goggles.
Serious Work or Entertainment - Virtual reality (VR) can be used to create an illusion of reality or imagined reality and is used both for amusement as well as serious training. Flight simulators for training airplane pilots and astronauts were the first form of this technology, which provided a very realistic and very expensive simulation.
Spatially Immersive Environments - Virtual reality has other variants. Spatially immersive displays use multi-sided rooms that you walk into, and an "immersive theater" or "immersive wall" uses a large flat or curved screen (8-24' long) that completely fills your peripheral vision. Desktop virtual reality (desktop VR) uses a computer to play games and view environments that you move around in, although they lack the 3D reality of true VR systems.
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Wireless
Wireless operations permit radio transmission through the air. Wireless is a very generic term that refers to numerous forms of transmission that do not use metal wires or optical fibers. They include AM and FM radio, TV, cellphones, portable phones and wireless LANs. Various techniques are used to provide wireless transmission, including infrared line of sight, cellular, microwave, satellite, packet radio and spread spectrum.
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Different sources were used for the editing of the present Glossary, in particular:
Communication Ethics, Cultural Concentration, Cyberanthropology, Cyberculture, Cybersociety, Learning (New Style), Media and culture, Netiquette, Paradigm, Power (and communication), Rights (and communication), Social (or mass) communication, Theology of communication, Usability, Verbal or oral communication taken from:
LEVER Franco-RIVOLTELLA Pier Cesare-ZANACCHI Adriano,
La Comunicazione. Il Dizionario di Scienze e Tecniche, Roma-Leumann (To), Rai Eri-LAS-Elledici 2002.
Collective Intelligence, Connective Intelligence, Cybernaut, Digitalization, eBay, Distributive Intelligence, Internet Café, Many-to-many, My media, New media, New Nomads, Real Life (RL), Shareware taken from:
GARASSINI Stefania,
Dizionario dei New Media, Milano, Raffaello Cortina Editore 1999.
Communication (types of), Gnu, Internet Addiction Disorder, Learning (New Style), New dependencies, Sociology of communication taken from:
BERTOLINI Piero-MANINI Milena,
I figli della Tv, Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1993;
OLIVERIO FERRARIS Anna, TV per un figlio, Bari, Laterza 1999;
PELLITTERI Marco, Conoscere l’animazione, Roma, Valore Scuola 2004;
MARAGLIANO Roberto, Nuovo manuale di didattica multimediale, Bari, Laterza 1998
CANTELMI Tonino-D’ANDREA Alessia, Fenomeni psicopatologici Internet-correlati: osservazioni cliniche, in CANTELMI Tonino et al., La mente in Internet. Psicopatologie delle condotte on-line, Padova, Piccin 2000.
DI MARIA Franco, Gruppi telematici e dinamiche virtuali, in DI MARIA Franco-CANNIZZARO Stefania, Reti telematiche e trame psicologiche. Nodi, attraversamenti e frontiere di Internet, Milano, Franco Angeli 2000
CANTELMI Tonino-GIARDINA GRIFO Lisa, La mente virtuale. L’affascinante ragnatela di Internet, Cinisello Balsamo, Edizioni San Paolo 2002
Definitions of some terms were also taken from the following websites:
Il portale nazionale del cittadino in http://www.italia.gov.it
Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia in http://en.wikipedia.org.
Free Software Foundation in http://www.gnu.org/home.it.html
Il Dizionario di Informatica in http://www.dizionarioinformatico.com/
The Second Life portal in http://www.secondlife.it
HighBeam Encyclopedia in http://www.encyclopedia.com
The only online dictionary Webopedia in http://www.webopedia.com
PC Magazine in http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/
UNESCO in http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/lwf/doc/portfolio/definitions.htm
Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/Internet-addiction-disorder.html
