MODULE 2 - Email Tasks
Q1. What information about a user's email, the origin of a message, and the path it took, can you glean from an email message?
A1. The senders and recipients names and email addresses. The time and date the email was sent and the subject if one is entered.
Q2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?
A2. cc: Use this to send a copy of your message to someone other than the original recipient. eg; when chairing team meetings at work, I would send an agenda to my team with a request for additional agenda items. I would address the email to the supervisor and cc all adminstration team members. bcc: Use this to send a "blind" copy of your message to someone without other recipients knowing about it. eg; if I had to send an email to a difficult client, I would bcc it to the rest of my team so that they would know to handle this client with due care. reply all: Use this to send a message to every recipient of the original message. eg; After sending the agenda to my team, as above in cc, they would send me a return email and reply all so that the rest of the team received the same email and be prepared.
Q3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by
the receiver?
A3. You can ensure that the recipient has the same or compatible software to that with which the attachment was created. If you are unsure if the recipient has a compatible computer or software, then you can send documents as plain text (ASCII) or as a RTF (rich text file) that is compatible with multiple applications. Sometimes, large files take too long to send or can't be sent at all so we compress or zip them to reduce the size and therefore, the sending time.
Q4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?
A4. My ISP offers a free spam filter. Without this filter I would be receiving 10 times the emails I currently receive. Unfortunately some spam still slips through, especially those junk emails with normal/people's names in the sender field. When this happens I add them to my "block senders" list.
Q5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?
A5. The ISP spam filter is also beneficial in organising my email storage. It filters out the unwanted emails which would clog my inbox and prevent new messages from being received. The emails that don't get filtered are automatically downloaded to my "Outlook Express" inbox every time I turn on my computer. If I'm away from home (and my pc) then I access my emails through webmail where they stay until I return home and sign onto my pc.
The files in my "filing cabinet" are arranged alphabetically and some have "sub" folders eg; my Uni folder has 4 folders inside for each of my OUA subjects.
I think the discussion boards are more convenient because you can read straight off them and respond at will. You have to download the email lists to your computer which takes more time and effort.
I found the discussion boards to be more readily accessible and easier to manoeuvre whereas mail lists are ok if you want to make a contribution or share something with others on the list.
I used to work as a telephonist for a paging company, way before emails and in the early days of mobile phones...how far we've come since then. When you think about it, I was just a go-between in the middle of a message, the equivalent of a stop on a traceroute list these days. I use to marvel that someone could call me up, give me a message to type up and send on to a little black box...now we have email...and instant messaging!
