Communication

Question 1

When did the first postal coach leave Cape Town.

Answer 1

1843

Question 2

Before the mail coach how did letters get sent inland?

Answer 2

Delivered by runners and farmers

Question 3

What was the first type writer called?

Answer 3

A writing piano

Question 4

Who invented the telephone

Answer 4

Alexander Graham Bell

Question 5

Who was Elisha Gray?

Answer 5

He also invented the telephone but arrived to register his invention a few hours after Alexander Graham Bell

Question 6

What is the post stone?

Answer 6

A stone on Robben Island where sailors left letters to be collected by a passing ship and delivered to their families in Europe

Question 7

What does the term PC stand for?

Answer 7

Personal computer

Question 8

Who first designed a computer small enough for everyone to use

Answer 8

Bill Gates

Question 9

Who invented the World Wide Web

Answer 9

Bill Joy

Question 10

Who made the first cell phone call?

Answer 10

Martin Cooper in 3 April 1973

Question 11

When did television come to South Africa?

Answer 11

1976

Question 12

When did the first television stations start?

Answer 12

1930’s

Question 13

What are the oldest forms of communication

Answer 13

Language, symbols, songs, art and dance

Question 14

Define language

Answer 14

A set of signs used to communicate

Question 15

True or False: there are ways besides speaking to use language to communicate

Answer 15

True. People also use body signs called body language to communicate

Question 16

When did the San people use hand signals

Answer 16

When they were hunting

Question 17

True or false: early humans spoke as we do today

Answer 17

False. They probably made sounds to pass on simple messages.

Question 18

True or false: language is always changing

Answer 18

True

Question 19

What is the most common form of communication

Answer 19

Speaking words

Question 20

True or false: stories are an important form of communication

Answer 20

True

Question 21

Give an example of an indigenous South African people who communicated through drawings and paintings

Answer 21

The San people

Question 22

What are engravings

Answer 22

Pictures scratched onto a surface such as a rock

Question 23

What sort of things did the San paint or draw

Answer 23

Animals, people hunting or gathering food, dancers

Question 24

What do historians think many of the San paintings were about

Answer 24

The San religion

Question 25

How have African people traditionally communicated their history and taught their children important lessons

Answer 25

Through songs

Question 26

What was communicated through traditional African songs

Answer 26

Their history, important lessons for children, things happening in the local area at the time and how they felt about their lives

Question 27

True or false: traditionally older and younger Xhosa woman used different instruments to accompany their songs

Answer 27

True. The uhadi was played by older women and the umrhube by younger women

Question 28

Why do the Shona people use instruments in the bira ceremony

Answer 28

To communicate with their ancestors. They use the mbira. In this ceremony the ancestors talk back to the people through dancers and singers

Question 29

List some different ways of communicating

Answer 29

Letters, email, Internet, speaking, cell phone, text messages

Question 30

Why do people not post letters so often anymore

Answer 30

There are faster ways to communicate these days like email or phone. Letters take a long time to travel from one place to another

Question 31

What was the mail coach and who started it

Answer 31

The Dutch and British settlers in the Cape started the mail coach. It was a coach that carried letters/messages and parcels In a large box at the front of the coach to people inland. It also carried passengers.

Question 32

Why was the first typewriter called a writing piano

Answer 32

It looked like a piano with black and white keys

Question 33

True or false: the typewriter helped speed up communication

Answer 33

True

Question 34

What is a QWERTY keyboard

Answer 34

A keyboard with the letters that are commonly used together split up. The first five letters of the top row from left to right are Q, W, E, R, T and Y

Question 35

Why was the qwerty keyboard necessary

Answer 35

Because otherwise the keys on the typewriter keyboard kept getting jammed when typing

Question 36

What is a telegraph

Answer 36

A machine that allows messages to be sent in Morse code along an electrical wire

Question 37

What is Morse code

Answer 37

A language that uses short and long signals. Short signals are called dots and long signals are called dashes

Question 38

What do dots and dashes in Morse code stand for

Answer 38

Letters of the alphabet

Question 39

When was The telegraph machine invented

Answer 39

In the early 1800’s

Question 40

Why is the telephone an important invention

Answer 40

Communicate instantly across big distances, get messages to people quickly etc

Question 41

How are modern telephones different to the first telephone

Answer 41

They are smaller, you can dial the person you want to speak to directly