Writing Assignment 1 Final Draft
History of Information Technology Writing Assignment 1:
Native American (Arapaho) Use of Smoke Signal Communication
The Arapaho Native American tribe ingenuously adopted, personalized, and improved both the smoke signal and sign-language mediums of communication. The Arapaho’s use of both mediums represents the tribe’s evolution of communication in response to their environment. Additionally, the Arapaho’s use of both mediums streamlined the communications process in the Plains region of the United States between tribes. Furthermore, the legacy of Arapaho Indian communication has been passed down through groups such as the Boy Scouts of America and the World Federation of the Deaf (1)(4).
Before the proliferated use of smoke signaling in the Plains region of the United States, Native American Tribes faced the dangers and inadequacies of alternative long-distance communications methods. For instance, Plains Indians would set up an elaborate chain of messengers on foot, or even send message carriers on Horseback (once the animal was introduced to the country) (3). Although this posited one form of long-distance communication, sending messengers over long distances often led to certain dangers, such as having the messenger (and subsequently the message) intercepted, having the message never reach the intended destination, or at the very least having the communication time lag with the length of the journey (3). Therefore, before smoke-signaling became common-place for the Arapaho Indians, the tribe’s methods of communicating over longer distances were inconsistent, arduous, and ultimately, inefficient.
Alternatively, when communicating across closer distances, the Arapaho Indians utilized a different mode of communication: sign language (1). The medium of sign-language was used prolifically by the Arapaho Indians, and fluency even transcended tribes throughout the many diverse Plains-based Native Americans (1). Consequently, the evolution of sign language in North America can be traced back to Native American tribes of the Great Plains region, as they are considered among the first groups to use the method in the continent (5). Sign language could communicate many messages across tribal lines and likely contributed greatly to the relationships between neighboring tribes in the Plains region. In addition to close communication between Great Plains tribes, the development of Native American sign language came out of need in facilitating trade with “European trappers and traders” (5). Consequently, the emergence and support of certain Native American sign-language dialects can be said to come out of cross-cultural interactions, not only those between Great Plains tribes. The inception of sign-language in the Great Plains region even gave each individual tribe their own identity through hand signaling. For example, in order to show another tribe your identity upon interaction, an Arapaho Indian would sign with “the fingers of one hand touch(ing) the breast in different parts to indicate the tattooing of that part in points” (5). Therefore, by reflecting some “striking characteristic” of an individual’s tribe, Great Plains Indians granted each unique tribe a method of self-identification through communication (5).
However, there was one large problem in the use of sign-language, which became a strength in the advocacy of smoke signaling during this time: Sign-language was largely understood on a general level and there was no mistaking the intended words produced (3). In other words, if one Arapaho were to signal at some distance that their tribe was planning an attack on a neighboring tribe and someone from the neighboring tribe were to see it, there would be no mistaking the intentions of the Arapaho’s. Therefore, the weaknesses of utilizing sign-language became apparent, as Arapaho’s could not code messages, which affected their strategic advantages over an enemy.
Conversely, the introduction of smoke signals allowed both basic general communications throughout those in the Arapaho tribe and coded signals for messages that contained sensitive information (1). For example, if two communicators needed to pass on general information, such as “Attention (one puff),” “All is well (two puffs),” or “danger, trouble, or need help! (three puffs of smoke, or three fires in a row)” then this message could be generally understood and passed on quickly across long distances (3). Additionally, coded messages could be passed on between communicators, in which sensitive information could be transmitted without the enemy becoming alert to the intentions of Arapaho tribe members (2). Therefore, in smoke signaling communication, “there is no general code (predominantly) or standard meanings for the different shapes, numbers, and types of smoke puffs” (2). The smoke signaling messages could be predetermined by the sender and the receiver of the smoke signal in order to contain an element of security and secrecy (2). Consequently, those who would use smoke signaling throughout the Plains region would have an edge on neighboring tribes who resorted to sign language alone (non-users).
Both the sign-language and smoke signaling modes of communication have carried legacies which remain contemporarily. Firstly, the inception of sign language by Native Americans in the Great Plains region of the United States has, in part, laid roots for the proliferation of sing-language communications in the country (American Sign Language), and moreover, throughout the world (4). Just like distinct languages and dialects of the world, there are many unique and overlapping versions of sign language, which can be very different from each other (4). Contemporarily, societies have discovered the important application of sign-language specifically to citizens who are impaired of hearing (4). Whereas early North American tribes used sign-language as a primary mode of communication, sign-language in present times is understood as more of a fringe method of communication. On the other hand, smoke signaling has become all but obsolete as a mode of communication as other forms have taken its place (the standardization of the English language, telephones, etc.). However, there are still some groups that use smoke signaling in cases of emergency as a part of wilderness training, such as the Boy and Girl Scouts (1). As the Pacific Standard Magazine reports, “the Arapaho standards made it into the 1911 Boy Scout Manual, which advised lost Scouts to lost adjacent fires.” Therefore, the lessons and practices of the Arapaho Indians lives on in the practices of young wilderness adventurers in the United States (1).
In analyzing and assessing two of the communication mediums used by Arapaho Indians, I have truly become aware and amazed at some of the early progressions of information technologies in America. In the inception and utilization of smoke signaling and sign-language between tribe-members, bordering tribes, and even across cultures, I now know how adaptive and intelligent Great Plains tribes were. While one may not consider smoke or hand gestures to be information technology as they do not involve computers nor telecommunications equipment, the Arapaho communication methods resemble the intent or purpose of I.T. by definition. For example, the Arapaho Indians used a primary mode of communication (i.e. sign-language), saw an inefficiency over long distances, and decided to adapt and overcome this shortfall through the design of smoke-signals. Consequently, Arapaho Indians innovated new technologies in order to develop the dissemination of information. Additionally, like most information technology innovations, the seemingly small breakthroughs of Arapaho Indians compounded over time and have had a profound effect on how we understood and now understand communications holistically.
Works Cited
- Herman, Marc. “A Brief History of Smoke Signals.” Pacific Standard Magazine. 12 March 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.
- “Smoke Signals.” Indians.org. The American Indian Hertiage Foundation, n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.
- “Smoke Signals.” The Telecommunications History Group, Inc., n.d., Web. 08 Feb. 2016.
- “Sign Language – WFD: World Federation of the Deaf.” World Federation of the Deaf. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.
- “Native American Sign Language.” War Paths to Peace Pipes. n.d., Web. 08 Mar. 2016.