Completed and saved: Tuesday, 5 December 2006
1. What information about a user's email, the origin of a message, and the path it took, can you glean from an email message?
An email message contains metadata that tells us who the email is address to; who the email comes from; what is the email's subject; who else is receiving copies of the email and the urgency of the message and the time when the email was sent.
2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?
Carbon copy (cc) is useful when you want a message to be sent to somebody who should know and do nothing about it. Blind carbon copy (bcc) is used to send a message secretly. Reply all function is useful when you want all recipients in the To Field to be informed of a response from you. The same subject is automatically copied with RE: in the subject field. Replying this way can avoid mistakes and save time and is culturally important.
3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?
Email attachment preferable be sent in MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) to ensure it is easily opened by the receivers no matter what mail program or computer type they are using.
4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?
I have set up rules to filter emails into folders by subject for security purpose. For example, subject contains one or more FW: are filtered for quarantine into separate folder. Subject such as Hello, Be quick or Your Bank Account etc are filtered into Spam Folder and to delete emails with the word ‘porn’ These emails may contain virus infected attachment that can completely shut down your computer.
5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?
I have organized the folder structure of my emails in different categories such as friends, relatives, education and others. They allow me to access them easily for future use and for reference.
Email Lists:
· What are the pros and cons of email lists versus discussion boards?
Email lists as a system is that they are unthreaded in terms of sorting, making it hard to identify the order in which posts were sent. They are also too narrowly focused overtime. Discussion Boards are similar to Newsgroups - a continuous public discussion about a particular topic. The messages are not maintained on a single server, but are replicated to servers world-wide. Discussions such as WebCT are kept and maintained by a single server at Curtin University.
· Are there certain kinds of communication or purposes more suited to one than the other?
If you need immediate answer and wish to communicate with more than one person or a small group, the following is useful: Chat room allows a group of people to type in messages with conversation seen by everyone in the “room”. Instant messages allow you to keep a list of people you wish to interact with in real time.
Reference sources:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com
http://www.internet.computertechnicalcentre.com/
