Using E-mail
“YOU’VE…GOT…MAIL!”
James C. Seidl
Sponsored by The Friends of the Albion Public Library
E-mail Reliability
• Most reliable of all Internet services • According to a study released in July 1997
– 91% of E-mail messages arrive at their intended destinations within five minutes, even during peak network usage hours – 5% of messages arrive within 30 minutes – 1% of messages arrive within one hour – 3% arrive between one and 12 hours after being sent
Typical E-mail Message
Example of Web Page E-mail Link
E-mail link
E-mail Anatomy
Header
Body
Signature
Attachments
E-mail Header
Header
E-mail Body
Message body
E-mail Signature
Signature
E-mail Attachments
Two attachments
Attachments
• Method of sending files with E-mail messages • Single E-mail message can have multiple attachments • Allows documents of all types to be transferred
– – – – – word processing spreadsheets graphs/charts images/line art audio, video, animation
Attachment Problems/Solutions
• Attachments can contain viruses • Size of incoming attachments may be larger than network can handle • Does the recipient have a program that can read your attachment?
E-mail Addressing Scheme
• • • • E-mail has a specific syntax All E-mail addresses are lower case Spaces never part of an address E-mail address is actually two addresses
– user personal account name – ISP domain name
Anatomy of E-mail Address
jseidl@hotmail.com
User name Domain name Domain extension
“at” symbol
Finding E-mail Addresses
• Several E-mail address databases exist
– – – – Bigfoot: http://www.bigfoot.com Four11: http://www.four11.com Switchboard: http://www.switchboard.com WhoWhere?: http://www.whowhere.com
• Most provide millions of personal and business E-mail addresses • Search by region, state, or city
Bounced Mail
• E-mail that has failed to reach its destination • Primary reasons for bounced E-mail
– incorrect address – recipient account no longer exists
• Returned to sender as “undeliverable”
– bounce time varies – some undelivered mail never returned
Example of Bounced Mail
Bounce indication
Message from Autoresponder
Mailing Lists
• • • • • Type of bulletin board Topic specific User must subscribe to list Over 71,000 mailing lists available User receives messages via regular E-mail
– allows you to include any customer or business partner that has an E-mail account in a mailing list
Mailing List Distribution Process
3 1 A subscriber composes an E-mail message intended for all subscribers of the mailing list. 2 The subscriber then posts the message to the mailing list server. Copies of the message are sent to all subscribers of the mailing list.
The mail list server maintains a list of subscribers and their respective E-mail addresses.
Types of Mailing Lists
• Active
– all subscribers can participate and post messages
• Passive
– only the list owner can post messages
• Moderated
– a human moderator filters messages and keeps order
• Unmoderated
– no mechanism by which messages are filtered
Chat Sessions
• Real-time communication • More expensive than E-mail or text conferencing • Text-based “telephone conversation” • Can be conducted via Web pages • Can be conducted using special software • Not bandwidth sensitive
Hotmail http://www.hotmail.com
Inbox
Email message
Access and Password
User guide
Email functions
Email abuse
Compose
Addresses
Folders
Options
Password
POP Mail Accounts
Filters
Signature
Preferences