Communicating via the Internet
What is email and how do you use it?
Email - also known as electronic mail - is a system designed to allow people to send messages to one another using the Internet. In fact, using email is a little like sending letters through the post.
Email addresses perform the same function as street addresses. They are used by Internet mail servers (the electronic equivalent of post offices) to determine where to send the email.
A person's email address consists of three parts, their username, an @ symbol, and a domain name.
username@domain.com.au
There are four easy steps to sending an email:
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Enter in the recipient's address.
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Enter a subject title to let the person receiving your email know what the email is about.
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Write the content of the email.
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Press the send button.
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If you correctly address your email, it may only take five seconds or so for your email message to leave your computer and be delivered to the recipient's email provider.
If the recipient is online at the time, they should receive the email immediately. However if they are not online, it will remain in the recipient's inbox until the next time they check their mail.
How can you get an email account?
When you sign up with an Internet service provider (ISP), you will be given an Internet email account.
Most ISPs provide you with a CD or detailed instructions on how to adjust your computer's settings to use email. Some ISPs will even visit your home or office and set the email up for you.
You will be given a username and a password to allow you to access your email account. You will need to enter your username and password to send or receive emails.
If you do not have email software on your computer you can access a variety of websites that offer free Internet-based email accounts. The advantage of web-based email is that you can access your emails from anywhere in the world.
On your computer you may already have email software such as Microsoft® Outlook Express. Your ISP will give you instructions on how to set this up to send and receive emails. If you have this type of email software, you can only send and receive emails with this account from your computer.
Examples of free web-based email are:
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Hotmail
®, one of the best known providers of free email accounts.
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Yahoo, a site that offers free email accounts.
What are email attachments?
Most modern email programs allow you to send additional files as an attachment to an email message.
Attachments are separate files that are sent along with your email message. They do not form part of your email message but they can be opened and viewed or edited by the email recipient.
You can attach all sorts of files to an email including spreadsheets, word processed documents, database files, even sound recordings and graphic images.
In order to view an attached file the recipient needs to have a copy of the software application that was used to create the attachment initially. For example, if you send a friend a Microsoft® Excel document as an email attachment, then your friend must have Microsoft® Excel installed to read the attachment.
Are your emails secure?
Unfortunately your emails are not secure. Every email server on the Internet is managed by an Administrator, a person who makes sure that the email server is running smoothly.
Just like ordinary mail, emails can get lost or get sent to the wrong address. When that happens the administrator may need to open an email to try and find out where it should go, or in some cases send it back to the sender.
To do this, email administrators have a special password that allows them to read another person's email, but they rarely abuse this power and it is really only for use in emergencies.
Because the email server keeps a permanent record of emails, even if you delete an email from your computer the administrator will still be able to access the email if required.
Lots of people access the Internet for lots of different reasons, and while most people use the Internet responsibly, others use it to carry out illegal activities. These people are called hackers.
Among other things, hackers try an intercept emails as they are being transmitted over the net, in the hope of finding something of interest, or perhaps something they can use for their own purposes.
For this reason you should always take care when emailing personal information over the Internet, and never email your financial details to anybody.
What is chat?
Actually, Internet chat isn't really chatting at all, at least not in a face to face sense. Internet chatters chat by using the computer keyboard to type messages and send them to each other. Like telephone conversations, chat happens in real time - that is, if you want to chat to someone on the Internet, the person you want to chat to must be on the Internet at the same time as you are and in the same chat room.
Chat rooms are where chatters 'meet' to discuss things that interest them. Of course they are not physical rooms at all, they are actually areas of a chat server that have been dedicated to a particular chat topic.
There are chat rooms available for just about every topic you can think of. Most chat rooms are global in nature, meaning that anyone can access a chat room from anywhere in the world.
You can also set up private chat rooms where you can meet friends or family; others will not have access to these private chat rooms.
How does chat work?
In order to be able to chat with other Internet users you need to be able to access a chat server. A chat server is nothing more than a computer that has been set up on the Internet to run special software. This software allows you to send and receive chat messages.
The chat server holds all the information about the different chat rooms and individual chatters. These servers are operated by individuals or companies who want to provide chat services to their users.
How you set up chat on your computer is going to depend on the type of chat that you want to use. Some chat services, such as IRC, require you to download special chatting software before you can chat. This software is available free over the Internet.
Web-based chat programs, such as Volano, allow you to chat on line without downloading specific software. To use a web-based chat service all you need to know is the web address of the chat service.
How do you chat on the Internet?
When you enter a chat room, you will typically see a page that displays the nicknames of those chatters currently in that room. When you enter, your name will also be automatically displayed on the page. With some chat programs, the page will also display details of the conversation so far.
When you want to join the conversation you need to type your message in the text box at the bottom of the screen and then press the Enter key on your keyboard. Your message is then sent to the chat room and it will be displayed on the page.
Others in the chat room will then read your message and possibly respond. The chat continues, with people reading each other's messages and responding.
You can leave a chat room whenever you like. When you leave, a message will tell others that you have left.
How do you know who you are chatting to?
Many people use chat to communicate with friends or family in a private chat room. However, if you access a public chat room, then you don't know who you are chatting to.
Many chatters access chat rooms using a nickname.
Most chat programs allow you to enter in your profile, which is a description of who you are. However profiles are not compulsory and are not necessarily an accurate description of the person you are chatting to.
You should always be careful when chatting to people over the Internet, and never reveal your personal or financial details to anyone.
What are newsgroups?
Newsgroups are sometimes called forums, bulletin boards or discussion groups. A newsgroup is a place where people can post messages, and others accessing the newsgroup can reply to those messages. A newsgroup is like a notice board.
Consider how noticeboards are used in real life. For example, you may have something to sell, so you decide to put a notice up at the local community center. Over the next few days various people will see the notice, and some may even want to respond to the notice. They could respond using the contact details on your notice, or maybe place their own notice in response to yours. Newsgroups on the Internet work in much the same way.
Newsgroups are great for getting and sharing information and opinions. Anyone with Internet access can access a newsgroup. There are newsgroups for just about any topic you can think of.
Sending a message to a newsgroup is called posting.
How can you access newsgroups?
To access a newsgroup you are going to need two things. First you are going to need a newsreader program installed on your computer.
Your newsreader program allows you to keep track of your favourite newsgroups and will also alert you to any new news articles.
Microsoft® Internet Explorer has its own newsreader, called Internet News. Netscape® Communicator also has a built in newsreader called Discussion Groups.
You will need to configure your newsreader so that it is able to access your Internet service provider (ISP) news server.
When you post an article to a newsgroup, your newsreader actually sends the article to your ISP news server where it can be accessed by other users.
More importantly the news server also sends a copy of your article to other Internet news servers, who forward it to others and so on. Within a few days, your article will be available to newsgroup users worldwide.
How do you post to a newsgroup?
Unlike email, which is private and is communication from person to person, newsgroups are public. This means that anyone who has access to a newsgroup will be able to read and reply to a message.
Initially, someone will post a message about a particular topic for discussion or a question they want answered. Others in the newsgroup then reply to this message.
The initial message and the replies are then displayed on the newsgroup screen in the order they were received, so that group members can see which reply relates to which question. This posting and replying is called threading.
Newsgroups are organised by topics - a bit like having noticeboards where you can only post notes on certain topics. It is poor netiquette to post messages to a topic area when the message relates to a different topic.
When you post an article to a newsgroup, you are posting information to a public forum and as such your article may be read by anybody who has access to the news group.
You should therefore be cautious about what you post to a newsgroup. Do not post inappropriate material to the newsgroup, and never post your personal or financial details to a newsgroup.
Can you communicate privately with other newsgroup readers?
There are two ways you can respond to a newsgroup posting.
You can choose to post your response to the newsgroup itself, called a reply group, adding to the collection of articles on the newsgroup.
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You can send a reply email directly to the author of the article you are responding to. This email will only be seen by the recipient, not the whole newsgroup.
What can you find in newsgroups?
There are in excess of 30,000 newsgroup topics available on the Internet. Each group is categorised into sub-groups and titled accordingly.
Newsgroup names usually begin with a three or four letter prefix indicating which group or subgroup the newsgroup belongs to.
Some common newsgroup categories include:
aus. - Australian - All things Australian.
biz. - Business - Various business discussion groups including investment.
comp. - Computers - Computers and other topics for the technically-minded.
soc. - Social - For the debate and discussion of social trends and issues.
alt. - Alternative - Alternative lifestyle topics - not to everyone's taste.
rec. - Recreation - A wide range of recreational topics, including film, arts and hobbies.
Some newsgroups can receive 1000s of messages a day. With approximately 30,000 newsgroups, you can see that that is a lot of information to store.
Even the more powerful news servers with large hard disks have trouble storing and sorting through this much information and will delete most articles after a week or so.
What is netiquette?
Quite simply, 'netiquette' is Internet etiquette - the informal rules of behaviour to be followed when using the Internet.
Many Internet service providers (ISPs) have their own Acceptable Use Policies - a set of formal rules for using the Internet. Some (ISPs) may even require you to formally agree to their Acceptable Use Policies by completing an online form. Netiquette, on the other hand, is a set of informal guides that have evolved over time and help make the Internet a pleasant place for everyone.
There are netiquette guidelines for most Internet resources including email, mailing lists and newsgroups. Some Internet resources share netiquette rules - for example the accepted guidelines for email and mailing lists are also used in newsgroups.
What are the basic rules?
How you use Internet communication tools will leave an impression on others. Although we all make the occasional typographical error now and then, misspelling every other word you type can be irritating to others if they have to constantly try to figure out what it is you're saying.
There are some basic netiquette rules that you should follow:
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Use sentence case - that is the normal combination of upper and lower case letters used in sentences. When you capitalise words you are yelling and NO ONE LIKES TO BE YELLED AT! On the other hand, typing in all lower case is considered to be mumbling.
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Keep your messages short and to the point. For many Internet users, time is money, keeping messages short means they will download faster.
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Do not use abusive, racist or offensive terms. Remember the Internet is a public place, accessed by millions everyday and what may seem quite tame to you may offend others.
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When first entering a chat room, it is a good idea to just simply type the word 'hello' and then wait and read the conversation for a few minutes. This gives you an idea as to what the current conversation is about, before you start adding your own comments.
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Always stick to the subject of the newsgroup. People join a newsgroup because the topic interests them, they don't want to read off unrelated topic postings.
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Be forgiving of others' mistakes. If someone makes a mistake, do not bombard them with messages about the mistake.
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The written word can easily be misunderstood. Use emoticons to display emotions.
What are emoticons?
Because online communications are text based, it is difficult to express emotion. In a face to face conversation people can tell how you feel about a topic by your tone of voice, facial expressions and body language.
Over the years Internet users have developed a series of emoticons (emotion icons) that can be used to represent the writers' feelings or intent. The list below is just some of the emoticons in common use.
Tilt your head to the left to read them.
| :-) or :) |
Smile or I'm joking |
| :-( or :( |
Frown or I'm sorry |
| ;-) |
Wink or sarcasm |
| :-O |
Shocked or surprised |
| :-D |
Big, delighted grin |
| :-P |
Sticking out your tongue |
| :'-( |
Crying |
| :-| |
Indifference; no feelings either way |
What do the abbreviations mean?
There are lots of abbreviations used on the Internet. When communicating online, these not only save time but can also reflect the user's opinion on a particular subject.
The list below is just a small collection of some common abbreviations:
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BTW
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By the way
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IMHO
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In my humble opinion
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ITRW
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In the real world
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LOL
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Laughing out loud
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WRT
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With regard to
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BRB
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Be right back
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AFK
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Away from keyboard
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<g>
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Grin
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<bg>
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Big grin
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To continue with this tutorial, click HOME on the bottom navigation bar and then choose the next topic.