Source vs. Channel — What's the Difference?

A person or thing from which something comes into being or is derived or obtained

A length of water wider than a strait, joining two larger areas of water, especially two seas.

The point of origin of a stream or river.

A band of frequencies used in radio and television transmission, especially as used by a particular station.

One, such as a person or document, that supplies information

A method or system for communication or distribution

(Physics) The point or part of a system where energy or mass is added to the system.

An electric circuit which acts as a path for a signal

To specify the origin of (a communication); document

A tubular passage or duct for liquid

To obtain (materials or parts) from another business, country, or locale for manufacture

Direct towards a particular end or object

To outsource or insource (tasks or jobs, for example).

Form channels or grooves in

The person, place, or thing from which something (information, goods, etc.) comes or is acquired.

The bed of a stream or river.

Spring; fountainhead; wellhead; any collection of water on or under the surface of the ground in which a stream originates.

The deeper part of a river or harbor, especially a deep navigable passage.

A reporter's informant.

A broad strait, especially one that connects two seas.

(computing) Source code.

A trench, furrow, or groove.

(electronics) The name of one terminal of a field effect transistor (FET).

A tubular passage for liquids; a conduit.

To obtain or procure: used especially of a business resource.

A course or pathway through which information is transmitted

(transitive) To find information about (a quotation)'s source from which it comes: to find a citation for.

Often channels A route of communication or access

The act of rising; a rise; an ascent.

In communications theory, a gesture, action, sound, written or spoken word, or visual image used in transmitting information.

The rising from the ground, or beginning, of a stream of water or the like; a spring; a fountain.

(Electronics) A specified frequency band for the transmission and reception of electromagnetic signals, as for television signals.

That from which anything comes forth, regarded as its cause or origin; the person from whom anything originates; first cause.

A continuous program of audio or video content distributed by a television, radio, or internet broadcaster.

The place where something begins, where it springs into being;

A company or other entity presenting such content.

A person who supplies information

(Computers) A chatroom on an online network.

A publication (or a passage from a publication) that is referred to;

The medium through which a spirit guide purportedly communicates with the physical world.

A document (or organization) from which information is obtained;

A rolled metal bar with a bracket-shaped section.

A facility where something is available

See ion channel.

Anything that provides inspiration for later work

See protein channel.

Someone who originates or causes or initiates something;

A wood or steel ledge projecting from a sailing ship's sides to spread the shrouds and keep them clear of the gunwales.

(technology) a process by which energy or a substance enters a system;

To make or cut channels in.

Anything (a person or animal or plant or substance) in which an infectious agent normally lives and multiplies;

To form a groove or flute in.

Get (a product) from another country or business;

To direct or guide along some desired course

Specify the origin of;

To serve as a medium for (a spirit guide).

To use or follow as a model; imitate

The physical confine of a river or slough, consisting of a bed and banks.

The natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, bar, bay, or any shallow body of water.

The navigable part of a river.

A narrow body of water between two land masses.

Something through which another thing passes; a means of conveying or transmitting.

A gutter; a groove, as in a fluted column.

A structural member with a cross section shaped like a squared-off letter C.

(electronics) A connection between initiating and terminating nodes of a circuit.

(electronics) The narrow conducting portion of a MOSFET transistor.

(communication) The part that connects a data source to a data sink.

(communication) A path for conveying electrical or electromagnetic signals, usually distinguished from other parallel paths.

(communication) A single path provided by a transmission medium via physical separation, such as by multipair cable.

(communication) A single path provided by a transmission medium via spectral or protocol separation, such as by frequency or time-division multiplexing.

(broadcasting) A specific radio frequency or band of frequencies, usually in conjunction with a predetermined letter, number, or codeword, and allocated by international agreement.

(broadcasting) A specific radio frequency or band of frequencies used for transmitting television.

(storage) The portion of a storage medium, such as a track or a band, that is accessible to a given reading or writing station or head.

The part of a turbine pump where the pressure is built up.

A distribution channel

(Internet) A particular area for conversations on an IRC network, analogous to a chat room and often dedicated to a specific topic.

A means of delivering up-to-date Internet content.

A psychic or medium who temporarily takes on the personality of somebody else.

(nautical) The wale of a sailing ship which projects beyond the gunwale and to which the shrouds attach via the chains. One of the flat ledges of heavy plank bolted edgewise to the outside of a vessel, to increase the spread of the shrouds and carry them clear of the bulwarks.

(transitive) To make or cut a channel or groove in.

(transitive) To direct or guide along a desired course.

To serve as a medium for.

(transitive) To follow as a model, especially in a performance.

The hollow bed where a stream of water runs or may run.

The deeper part of a river, harbor, strait, etc., where the main current flows, or which affords the best and safest passage for vessels.

A strait, or narrow sea, between two portions of lands; as, the British Channel.

That through which anything passes; a means of passing, conveying, or transmitting; as, the news was conveyed to us by different channels.

A gutter; a groove, as in a fluted column.

Flat ledges of heavy plank bolted edgewise to the outside of a vessel, to increase the spread of the shrouds and carry them clear of the bulwarks.

Official routes of communication, especially the official means by which information should be transmitted in a bureaucracy; as, to submit a request through channels; you have to go through channels.

A band of electromagnetic wave frequencies that is used for one-way or two-way radio communication; especially, the frequency bands assigned by the FTC for use in television broadcasting, and designated by a specific number; as, channel 2 in New York is owned by CBS.

One of the signals in an electronic device which receives or sends more than one signal simultaneously, as in stereophonic radios, records, or CD players, or in measuring equipment which gathers multiple measurements simultaneously.

An opening in a cell membrane which serves to actively transport or allow passive transport of substances across the membrane; as, an ion channel in a nerve cell.

A path for transmission of signals between devices within a computer or between a computer and an external device; as, a DMA channel.

To form a channel in; to cut or wear a channel or channels in; to groove.

To course through or over, as in a channel.

A path over which electrical signals can pass;

A passage for water (or other fluids) to flow through;

A long narrow furrow cut either by a natural process (such as erosion) or by a tool (as e.g. a groove in a phonograph record)

A deep and relatively narrow body of water (as in a river or a harbor or a strait linking two larger bodies) that allows the best passage for vessels;

(often plural) a means of communication or access;

A bodily passage or tube lined with epithelial cells and conveying a secretion or other substance;

A television station and its programs;

A way of selling a company's product either directly or via distributors;

Transmit or serve as the medium for transmission;

Direct the flow of;

Send from one person or place to another;