ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION - WORD PROCESSING

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION - WORD PROCESSING

It is using computers to automate the transformation of ideas into a readable form of communication. It involves manipulation of text data viz., characters, words, sentences and paragraphs to produce information (useful data) into documents like:

 Letters
 Memos
 Forms
 Reports

It is the oldest application. Operators use keyboards of a PC or a terminal to type matter that is displayed on the screen. With appropriate command, words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs can be added, deleted and moved around. Format and font of the documents can be adjusted and a variety of other manipulations can be carried out. The output can be stored in the hard disk memory or in secondary storage and printed whenever required.

Most software packages of word processing have:
 Spelling check
 Check of grammar or construction of a sentence
 Thesaurus check
 Style check

The final document can be previewed to check layout and presentation before printing. As a result of these facilities in the software packages, it is now dramatically easier to:

 Create and print documents of various designs, sizes, and shapes
 Edit, correct and revise documents
It also has software to assist in letter writing as it stores some paragraphs or sentences that are useful viz.

Opening sentences like;
 „Thank you for your letter concerning employment with our company‟
 „Thank you for sending us a resume of your past business experience‟

Closing sentences like:
 Again, thank you for your interest in our company
 We look forward to hearing from you soon
 Yours truly
 Yours faithfully
 Yours sincerely etc

Word processing facilitates:
 Preparation of more effective written communication
 Quicker to and fro communication
 Migration of receivers of word-processed messages to word processing
 Better and quicker decision making