Using Email - TutorDAM

Using E-mail

Electronic mail is one way to send and receive messages electronically over a network. It is the most widely used service on the internet.

What is Email?

E-mail or email is short for electronic mail. Electronic mail is a method of exchanging messages between people using electronic devices. Email was designed as an alternative to the traditional physical mail also referred to as snail mail.

Email History

As many people spend more and more time online the use of email has increased tremendously. There are many advantages to using email over physical snail mail. One advantage to using email is that email is convenient. Email began as an experiment to see if two computers could exchange a message. Raymond Tomlinson, the inventor, wanted to send messages to people, so he decided to modify and combine the programs that were already available as his own personal project. The innovative email software he created back in 1971 was called “SNDMSG”. Tomlinson played a key part in ARPANET’s development. ARPANET was the forerunner to the internet. Email was initially seen as a speedy way for ARPANET programmers and researchers to keep in touch.

Tomlinson decided to use the “@” symbol to separate the recipient’s name from their location, to indicate that the user was “at” some other host rather than being local. The format “user_name@host” remains the standard for email addresses today. Even today spaces are not permitted in a valid email address. Tomlinson sent the first email, to a computer that was in the same room as he.

Advantages to using email

Fast - email is sent anywhere in the world within a matter of seconds depending on internet traffic.
Convenient - many people spend hours online each day
Cheap - if you have internet access email is available at no extra cost
Easy to edit
You can send the same message to many users at the same time
Files may be easily attached to an email and sent over a network
Automatic spell check is available

Disdvantages to using email

Easy for you to send a message to the wrong people.
Once sent you cannot retrieve your email
When using email at work your employer has access to the contents of your email.
Malware is often spread as attachment files to a valid email message.

Using email correctly

We should follow the same rules for writing emails as we do for writing a friendly letter or a business letter. There are some shortcuts we should use such as LOL, IMO etc that help us to get our message across more easily.

Remember to be polite at all times
Be professional - check spelling and grammar
Always include a short discriptive subject title
When using a school email address use only for school related reasons not for sharing jokes or simple chit chat.
When using email on a company server remember that each email is saved and can be read by your employer.

Don't Spam

Spam is very annoying. Email spam is nothing but junk email or unsolicited bulk emails sent through the email system. Spambots are programs that crawl the internet and collect millions for email addresses which are sold to companies that want to advertise their services or products.

Would you write a letter and mail it to a person you never met? That is not normally done in every day life so why should it be ok to do so in cyberspace? Many people find such letters to be extreamly annoying and would just delete them without reading anyway.

Questions	Options	Verify
1) Some email addresses do not contain the @ symbol	True False
2) The first email was sent in 1971	True False
3) Bill Gates of Microsoft created email	True False
4) Raymond Tomlinson was commissioned by ARPANET to create email	True False
5) Spaces are not permitted in an email address	True False

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