Module 2 - Email Task

In this task I had to do an email tutorial and it was easy peasy. I then had to answer the followign questions.

1. What information about a user's email, the origin of a message, and the path it took, can you glean from an email message?
Well an email address it constructed of 2 parts:
First there is the username, e.g. joeblogs
Second is the domain name, e.g. @hotamil.com

The domain name tells us whether it is:
A free host e.g. joeblogs@hotmail.com
A company host e.g. joeblogs@tycoint.com
A government host e.g. joeblogs@qld.gov.au
A education host e.g. joeblogs@curtin.edu.au

The .au on the end of the domain name means it is Australian, and having nothing on the end of the domain name means that it is international/universal. I think.

2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all' functions of email?
I have used the cc (carbon copy) function in the past for work purposes. It is used when you want to include someone into the email communication, while letting the recipient know that you have cc'd someone into their communication.

As an example, in my last subject I had to submit a report that was a group effort and I had to cc all of the group members into the email so that they got a copy of the attached completed report, and they could use the email as a receipt of submission.

I have to say I have never used the bcc (blind carbon copy) function before, as I have never needed to. I suppose it would be useful in a case where you are replying to a person and bcc’d a another person in on the communication but did not want the recipient to know that you have included anyone else in on the communication. It sounds a little like backstabbing in that example. Sorry, probably a very poor choice of examples.

The bcc function, could also be used to huge mailing lists, where the recipient only sees there name and is unaware that the email has been sent to anyone else.

The reply all function can be used when you receive an email from a group of people and you want your reply to be seen by everyone.

Example: A group of friends sends 1 friend an email inviting him/her to a party. That person wants all the senders in the group to see the reply to he/she would use the reply all function. This way the response would be sent to everyone who was the sender on the first email message.

You have to be careful when using the reply all function, as if you only want to reply to one recipient you would create a whole new email and copy and paste the original message and your response into the new message, so that your response does not go to everyone who was the senders on the first email you received.

3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?

One way would be to confirm which type of computer program they are using, so that the attachment can be saved under a compatible format. You could also save the attachment as a ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange), also known as “plain text”, this would make sure that the attachment could be read by the recipient no matter what type of computer or software they are using.

Making the title of the attachment interesting will make certain that the recipient will open it e.g. attached is the ‘boodylicious’ file that will want to look at.

Do not send large attachments, as they take far to long to download, so compress any large documents etc using winzip etc and then send them as an attachment, makes it much easier and less time consuming.

Think outside the box, as you can get very used to your own system and what it is capable of, and just assume that the person you are sending the attachment to has the same hardware and software that you have. Assume makes an ass out of u and me. Or assumption is the mother of all booboo’s.

4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?

I have a standard filter for incoming junk e-mail messages. This means that most junk e-mail is sent to the junk e-mail folder to be deleted later. This filter makes it easier for me when viewing my inbox, there are only legitimate messages to be viewed. However, I do look at the junk e-mail folder every week to make sure that no legitimate messages are being filtered there by accident.

I also have set up some filters fro incoming messages to be sorted into their appropriate folders automatically, this saves me the time in doing that. As I am a stay at home mum, I really do not get a lot of e-mails so do not need to use a lot of rules or filters, but it is good knowledge to have for when I re-enter the workforce.

5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?

I have folders for every type of email that I receive ranging from my family members, friends, uni, and I keep a folder for every subject that I am studying and remove it when I know that I have passed the subject.

This helps me keep a track of everything and helps me when searching for information. I also go through my sent items and drag them to the appropriate folders as well. This way each folder has both incoming and outgoing messages in it, for easier retrieval.