Computer and Hardware

Report and Bibliography

Email

Electronic-mail or Email is the process of sending messages electronically using your computer. You can send messages when it is convenient for you - even at 2 am. Your recipient responds at his convenience.

Email can be sent anywhere in the world using your computer and a modem. Email is almost instant in its delivery and it is very cheap to use especially for international messages, costing only the price of the telephone connection to the Internet Service Provider. You may send many messages at one time or just one to a designated location.

Messages can be sent internally on a local area network that might cover a building or an organisation like Northern Institute. For example in this Institute people on all 6 campuses can at no cost exchange email over the computer network that joins all the campuses.

By using email you will be able to electronically

 send messages or memos

 receive and read messages

 reply to messages

 forward messages

 send the same message to a list of people with one stroke

 attach a text file such as a report to your email message

 save mail to a file and print the message

Internet

Whilst email is associated with the Internet you do not necessarily have to have an Internet connection to be able to send and receive email. For example many organisations have email facilities within their own local area networks, but do not have Internet links. However usually email is part of your Internet connection and it is one of the most used Internet facilities.

Email Address

In order to receive or send email you need to have an email address and you need to know the address of the person to whom you wish to send a message.

Addresses are made up in a standard way using the following elements:

 User identification eg. Joelg your name or a name you wish to choose. It is usual to have part of your own name to make it easily identifiable

 the @ or at symbol to locate the person

 the domain name of the computer receiving your mail eg. gcit for Gold Coast Institute of Tafe

 the type of organisation eg. edu for an educational institution or gov for government

 and finally au to locate the address in Australia

the final address will look like this:

Joelg@gcit.edu.au

How Email Works

An electronic mailing system works in much the same way that the postal service we are used to operates.

Australia Post uses mail boxes, post offices and letters in envelopes with addresses on them, trucks, letter boxes and lots of people.

With email you will complete the same sort of operation sitting at your computer.

You will compose the message on your computer using your email package, (there are many packages available and we will direct you to individual tutorials on these later).

You will address your message by using simple commands from your email screen. At the receiving end your message will be received by a mail server which is a computer set aside for this function.

The mail server acts like a post office for the person receiving the mail, the message is held there ready for delivery. But instead of the Postie taking it to the house or business location of that person, he or she will collect it the next time they turn on the computer and look at their mail box to see if there are any new messages.

Memos

Memos have one purpose in life: as the authors of Business Writing Strategies and Samples put it, "Memos solve problems."

Memos solve problems either by informing the reader about new information, like policy changes, price increases, etc., or by persuading the reader to take an action, such as attend a meeting, use less paper, or change a current production procedure. Regardless of the specific goal, memos are most effective when they connect