ICSA 202: Computing Tools

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ICSA 202 Computing Tools Environments

• Week 6 Electronic Communication

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E-Mail Addresses

• UserID_at_hostname.domain
• User ID is assigned by organization
• Host name must include at least two parts
• rit.edu
• osfmail.isc.rit.edu
• yahoo.com

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Local vs Host-Based Mail

• Host-based requires you to telnet to host, check
  mail using server-based program
• RITVAX and VAX EMAIL program
• Grace and Pine program
• Local mail also called POP mail
• POPPost Office Protocol
• Allows local PC to connect to server, download
  mail

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Host-Based Mail

• Pros
• Can be checked from any workstation
• Provides consistent interface
• Easy to support, document
• Cons
• Limited feature set
• Less intuitive interface
• More difficult to print, save messages

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POP Mail

• Pros
• Choice of interfaces and programs
• Richer feature set
• Cons
• Mail is stored on whatever computer youre
  currently using
• Requires local storage space for messages
• Slow connections can take a long time to download
  messages

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Common POP Packages

• Eudora
• Light version is free
• Pro version is commercial, more features
• Pegasus
• PC only
• MS Exchange
• Microsoft product, integrated with others

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Browser-based Mail

• Allow mail checking from browsers
• Advantages of POP mail and host mail together
• Examples
• Yahoo! Mail
• MailExcite
• MailMan (offered by some ISPs)

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E-Mail Netiquette

• Use your real name in the from field
• Dont use all caps
• Use emoticons to convey tone
• Remember that e-mail is
• Easy to save and redistributed
• Not private
• Not unrestricted

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Mailing Lists

• One-to-many or many-to-many
• Facilitate communication among groups
• Good for online community-building or information
  gathering
• Mailing list server software handles
  administrative requests

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Subscribing to Lists

• Send subscription to mailing list server
• Specify which list, mailing address and/or name
• Sometimes a verification m
• Send messages for other users to list itself
• Send administrative requests to list server
• e.g. list of subscribers
• unsubscribe requests

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List Characteristics

• Moderated vs. Unmoderated
• Digest vs. Single-Message
• Open vs. Closed
• Subscribers-only vs. Open Posting

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USENET Newsgroups

• Worldwide distributed discussion system
• Organized hierarchically with the broadest
  grouping first in the name
• The name of each group is separated from its
  parent and its subgroups by a period.
• e.g., alt.collecting.pen-pencils
• Some moderated, most not

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Newsgroup Hierarchies

• comp computer-related subjects
• news information about newsgroups
• rec recreational topics
• sci the various disciplines of science
• soc a wide range of social issues
• talk debate politics, religion, etc.
• alt alternative subjects
• misc subjects that dont fit elsewhere

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Accessing Usenet

• Must have access to a server (e.g. news.rit.edu)
• Pine software
• Allows e-mail interface to Usenet groups
• Can be confusing, because interface is so similar
• Netscape
• Provides browser-based interface to Usenet

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Groupware Software

• Software that facilitates both electronic
  communication and shared documentation
• Generally a closed, client-server environment
• Examples
• Lotus Notes/Domino
• Novell Groupwise
• SoftArcs FirstClass

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FirstClass at IT

• Used by IT and DL to support classes
• Provides discussion forums and distribution of
  documents
• Client-server model
• Server runs at RIT
• Free client can be run on any machine
• Advantages of host-based system with a PC-client
  interface

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FirstClass at DL

• All DL courses use FirstClass some exclusively,
  some only partially
• Uses same client, different server
• Client can be directed to different servers using
  settings files
• Your login ID and password for the IT server will
  not work on the DL server (and vice versa)

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New Version of FirstClass

• FirstClass has just released their Intranet
  Server (v5.0)
• Allows WWW interface to FirstClass
• Improves threaded discussions