Lecture 6 - Electronic mail

Lecture 6 - Electronic mail

Electronic mail is the name given to the system whereby you can send a message to someone else with a computer and suitable connection.

Virtually everything that can be done with normal mail (now referred to as snail mail) can be done with e-mail, except that we obviously cannot send packages or parcels!

All computer-based material in whatever form (i.e. text, code, graphics, sound and video) can be sent via e-mail.

Address

You have an e-mail address, just as you have a physical address. Your e-mail address will identify you uniquely. One cannot therefore have a duplicate address, although some organisations may have addresses which can be accessed by more than one person.

Your e-mail address will often identify the Internet Service Provider through which you send and receive mail. If your service provider is Maltanet, your address is likely to be user@maltanet.net. In some cases the address also identifies the country where the ISP is registered (though this does not necessarily indicate the origin of the user). Therefore user@vol.net.mt is registered in Malta, user@demon.co.uk is in the United Kingdom. When the country of origin is not identified, that address will have been registered in the United States (the country of origin of the Internet), but as has been already pointed out this does not mean that the user is in fact located in the United States. Indeed, a user will often be able to access is e-mail account whichever country he is in! An example of this is the Hotmail e-mail service (part of Microsoft) which is a free service operating from the United States. Here the e-mail address is user@hotmail.com. The '.com' part of this address represents an American commercial organisation. Some others would be 'edu' for an educational establishment that awards degrees, or 'org' which represents a non-profit making organisation.

What is needed to use e-mail?

To use e-mail you require -

a registered e-mail address (this may be done in most cases through the world wide web)
an Internet Service Provider, with a suitable connection to that provider (telephone line, ASDL, modem cable)
e-mail software, such as Outlook Express, Eudora, TeamWare, Netscape Messenger.

Netiquette

It is always polite (netiquette - internet etiquette) to fill in the subject when sending an e-mail. Users often scan the subject list prior to deciding which e-mails to read first, so you will have to catch their attention with a suitable phrase in the subject line.
If you consider the message urgent you may set a priority to a message, but you should use this sparingly.
In internal mail systems it is normally possible to identify whether or not the person you have sent a message to has read it. It is also possible to this on external mail systems, so you will have no excuse to state that you have not received a message!
It is considered polite to acknowledge receipt of a message requring information from you. If you do not have an immediate answer to an e-mail, reply to the message stating you are still working on a more detailed reply. Seemingly ignoring the message, even if only temporarily, may lead to loss of business.

Formatting a message

Some users will want to add formats and style to an e-mail message and this is possible on most software. However, the Internet consists of many different computer systems and this spells disaster for any kind of compatibility. To ensure a message is totally compatible with all systems, we must ensure that it is sent as text.

What if I want to send some colourful material like brochures?

You can send attachments with an e-mail. In some cases you may refer the addressee to a web site, in others you will want to send a document such as a Word File (.doc) or a Portable Document Format file (.pdf).

Can I send a message to a group of persons?

Yes, you can send the same message to a group and this is preferable then setting up an e-mail for each one.

You may wish to "copy" a message to a particular person or group of persons. You can easily "copy" an e-mail, but you should be aware that the person receiving a copy is merely being sent a courtesy copy and is not normally required to answer to that e-mail. It is netiquette to show who you are sending a message to - especially if your message is related to work.

There are cases where you may need to use a "blind carbon copy". Here the persons receiving the message will not know who else has received the message. When you send a mail in the normal way, you will be identifying the users in your mail. Not all users will want their e-mail address sent to everyone in your Address book and the BCC option will avoid this altogether.