E-mail is revolutionising working practices. But what is it? John Kirkwood explains.
Electronic mail (e-mail) is a form of communications technology that produces extreme responses. People either like it or they hate it! These two groups usually fall into those who are already using it – and realise its considerable benefits – and those who have never used it.
E-mail is probably the simplest computer application anyone could be asked to use. To send a message a user simply enters the text, adds the e-mail address and clicks with the mouse on the “post” icon. Similarly, reading incoming e-mail messages just requires a double-click on the message header to view its contents.
But e-mail can involve much more, depending on the user’s needs. Messages may be sent to multiple recipients, files may be attached to messages and newsgroups may be joined. Many advanced Internet functions can be undertaken simply via e-mail commands.
Detractors will tell you that e-mail security is a problem, that users receive masses of junk e-mail and that it is impersonal.
If the correct procedures are followed, e-mail is more secure than conventional paper-based communication. It is much easier to raid someone’s pigeon-hole in the office than it is to break into their e-mail account. There are risks but these can be minimised.
Junk mail is easier to deal with in its electronic form than the paper-based rubbish we all receive. Programs are available that will automatically filter out unwanted messages. Most irrelevant material can be identified by its heading and deleted at the touch of a button.
E-mail is no more impersonal than any other form of printed text. It might even be argued that it is more informal because generally a more relaxed style is used compared with conventional letters. People usually dispense with “Dear…” and “Yours sincerely…”. Besides, there is nothing to stop someone sending a hand-written letter, when it is appropriate.
E-mail has been around for some years, but only within companies. Mercedes-Benz, for example, installed Verimation’s Memo office automation package as long ago as 1988, on its IBM mainframe.
Recently though – with the establishment of communications networks based on satellite and fibre optic technology – e-mail has begun to be used on an inter-company basis, and the rate of take-up suggests that this form of communication will rapidly become the norm rather than the exception.
For a technology to be accepted widely it must provide obvious and easily realisable benefits. The advantages of e-mail are that it is easy to use, it is quick – but not always instant – one message may be sent to many recipients, files may be attached to messages and, above all, e-mail may be accessed from any location.
This last benefit is the key to e-mail and is known as the “store and forward”concept. That is, a message transmitted by the sender is stored, and when the recipient is ready, it is forwarded for retrieval. It is not necessary to establish a “connection” with the recipient, as it is with both facsimile and telephone.
It is impossible to overstate the value of this feature. It means that when you wish to send a message to someone you only require their e-mail address. You do not need to know where they are located. It is the recipient’s responsibility to check for messages, wherever they happen to be in the world.
Attachments may be added to e-mail messages, such as other documents, drawings, images (both still and moving), sound or data. So long as information can be held in digital form, it can be attached to an e-mail. A long property report, for instance, could be sent to a group of people by simply creating a short message and attaching the report as a file. This is done by clicking the Attach icon and naming the file.
E-mail software is exceptionally easy to use, as there are so few functions to select. These include reading, storing and forwarding incoming mail, and composing and sending outgoing mail.
To send an e-mail to someone it is first necessary to compose the communication. This may be done within the e-mail software, using the integral text editing facilities. Alternatively, a word processing package may be used to create a message, and then it is loaded into the e-mail software.
Apart from the message itself, the user is required to supply the recipient’s e-mail address (essential), a subject heading (optional) and an alternative address to which a copy will be sent (optional). The mail is transmitted simply by using the mouse to click on the transmit button.
Just as you require a postal address to receive conventional mail, each person that uses e-mail needs an e-mail address. This consists of two elements: the recipient’s name (or userid) and the domain. The domain is divided into a number of sub-domains, which identify the name of the institution, the type of organisation (eg academic or commercial) and the country.
For example, my e-mail address is john@propsys. demon.co.uk. My userid is shown to the left of the @ symbol and the domain is shown to the right. In this case the information may be interpreted as follows: “propsys” is the domain name; “demon” = Demon Internet (the information access provider (IAP); “co” = company; and “uk” = United Kingdom.
It’s good to talk
One of the most interesting developments made possible by e-mail is the introduction of discussion lists. These enable a user to post a message to a group of recipients, who may respond to the user individually, or to the whole group. Thus, a theme may be picked up by members of the group and worked through until everyone is bored with it!
Discussion lists are managed by special computer programs that control such functions as subscribing and unsubscribing, and provide other ancillary query features (eg query who currently subscribes to a given list).
MAILBASE is a service which runs electronic discussion lists for the UK higher education and research community. Its discussion lists cover a diversity of topics, including cognitive psychology, musicology, physiotherapy, 18th-century Scottish literature and even estate management!
To join the estate-management list a user simply sends the following command as an e-mail message: Join estate-management firstname(s) lastname
This is addressed to mailto:mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk. If this is successful the user receives a confirmation message. A list description is also provided.
To send a message to the list, subscribers send e-mail to estate-management@mailbase.ac.uk. A separate user-commands reference card is e-mailed to subscribers explaining the main commands. This includes a description of how to unsubscribe, so that you will not be burdened with receiving mail from the list indefinitely!
A similar discussion service is provided by Usenet. This has thousands of discussion groups, including a number devoted to real estate (such as alt.building.realestate).
To read Usenet articles, a newsreader program is required. These are usually incorporated with the software provided by the IAP. Subscribing to newsgroups simply involves selecting them from a list. After a newsgroup has been selected, the user receives as e-mail any messages sent to the list. But beware, if you join a large number of newsgroups you may receive massive amounts of e-mail.
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The ritual of checking for e-mail is similar to the process of opening the post each day – except that the user decides when to look for messages, rather than having to wait for the postman! For systems that are permanently on-line, e-mail messages dribble in throughout the day. It is usually possible to receive a bleep to indicate that new mail has arrived. In the case of a dial-up account, users log on to the Internet (ie via the telephone line) and any new messages are downloaded from the server on to the user’s PC. These may then be read off-line. While the connection is live, messages that have been prepared off-line are also transmitted to the server. These will eventually be routed to the indicated recipients. It is worth emphasising that, unlike fax, this process is not instant. It can take several hours before a message reaches its destination. Carrier pigeons are not yet obsolete! |
