Hollie's IT Blog :D: Coursework A

Email

Definition:

Email (electronic mail) are messages sent from one internet user to another, usually private, unlike newsgroup posts. E-mail is a system of creating, sending and storing textual data in digital form over a network. Most emails can be traced back to the sender by examining the headers of the message. Email services are provided online by websites such as Hotmail and Yahoo. You are able to add attachments to emails, including pictures and documents.

Benefits and Problems of Email

There are many benefits of e-mail.

Emails are cheaper to send than letters or postcards. For emailing you have to pay the cost of the internet which is needed to send emails.
You can quickly send messages along with pictures, documents and other attachments.
The messages are sent and recieved instantly anywhere across the world, unlike post that would take days to recieve- no other communication service is as fast as e-mail.
It is mostly reliable and secure. The emails are sent too and from two users and so only they can see the messages, and everything is kept privatly, no others can access the message unlike other services e.g. post.
Easier for reference- it is easy to track back and find a certain message, unlike letters that may have been displaced.
It is environtmentally friendly: unlike postal mail it uses no paper, so saves fuel for transportation and deforestation from occuring.
Auto mated emails- It is possible to send automated e-mails using special programs like the autoresponders. The autoresponders reply back to the sender with a generalised pre-written text messages.
It can be used to advertise. Many companies now send emails to advertise their products and services.
The language used can be simple, making sending the email faster rather than writing out a long formal letter. Simplifying the language could also be a disadvantage also as the wording may be difficult to read and understand, which then takes more time trying to work out what the shortened words mean.

E-mails, though beneficial in our day-to-day life, have drawbacks.

Viruses can be sent attached to emails: These are computer programs having the potential to harm a computer system. These programs copy themselves and further infect the computer. The recipient needs to scan the mails, as viruses are transmitted through them and have the potential to harm computer systems.
Spam: unwanted advertisements, that are a nuisance. Checking and deleting these unwanted mails can unnecessarily consume a lot of time, and it has become necessary to block or filter the unwanted e-mails by means of spam filters. Spamming includes, sending hoax e-mails.
Hacking- The act of breaking into computer security is termed as hacking. After the e-mail is sent and before it is received by the desired recipient, it "bounces" between servers located in different parts of the world. Hence, the e-mail can be hacked by a professional hacker. This is a major disadvantage and is one that puts people off having an email account.
They are not suitable for business- Since the content posted via e-mails is considered informal, there is a chance of business documents going unnoticed. Urgent transactions and especially those requiring signatures are not managed through e-mails. The inbox needs to be checked regulary- In order to be updated, the user has to check his/her e-mail account regularly.
Crowded inbox- Over a period of time, the e-mail inbox may get crowded with email. It becomes difficult for the user to manage so many messages. It can become annoying and the user may get frustrated.

"UK E-mail law 'attack on rights"

Rules forcing internet companies to keep details of every e-mail sent in the UK are a waste of money and an attack on civil liberties, say critics.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7819230.stm

"Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg 'hacked into emails of rivals and journalists"

The founder of facebook has hacked into many newreporter's facebook account due to them planning to write an article on him. Zuckerberg also hacked into the accounts of rivals at Harvard who accused him of stealing their idea for a social network.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1255888/Facebook-founder-Mark-Zuckerberg-hacked-emails-rivals-journalists.html#ixzz0z73uZwLm

"British newspaper complains about email address"

Robin Livingstone has raged out at Ireland’s only Marxist-Leninist republican party, the IRSP. He is quite rightly laughing at them for foolishly using a .co.uk email address. However, unlike his publication the IRSP are only using a free email address and not subject to long-term dependency on direct funding from the Brits.

http://sluggerotoole.com/2010/06/06/british-newspaper-complains-about-email-address/

Gmail Vs Hotmail.

Gmail priority inbox

This feature selects the important messages and sorts them for you. It will check your messages and will use algorythms and will put them in a different order, to what is suited and is important to you, the important messages will be brought to the top of the list, so it is easy to see, which is very convenient and saves time. The inimportant messages will be near the bottom of the list as they are not seen to be important.
You can mark a star on the message, which allows you to put certain messages in a folder which can be accessed and read again in the future. This tool helps avoid information overload as they allow you to filter information better, which is a great help. Below is a screenshot of how to add some messages to the 'starred' folder:

Gmail has filters, you can select certain people that will automatically set a star on the message, which can then be added to the star folder. The filter also allows you to sort the messages, as shown below it shows how to edit the messages' properties e.g. star it, delete it, forwarding it and many more.

Regarded the best spam filtering email- good for users as it will identify the spam and will save workers time.
It analyses your patterns of what is important and suited to you, the people and company emails you read the most.
If you reply to someone it is seen to be more important e.g. if you reply to a message the person receiving the message will be classed as an important sender so in the future if they send any messages they will be placed much higher in the inbox. This also is convenient and another way to save time and effort scrolling through every new message.
If it misses important messages or the other way around, you can manually change the importance. This is a good way to ensure all the right emails and senders are selected to be important so you do not miss them off in the future and have to scroll down and search for those emails that are seen to be important. Below is shown how to edit if the message is important or not and to save this for the future if any other messages are sent from that user.

The more you use Gmail the better the service becomes. As you use it more habit's are created as it will learn to identify the messages and recipients that are valid and suited to you which seem to be frequently used and look as if they will be used much more in the future in the inbox.
This makes life easier so it is more convenient and saves time for workers, it is more effective.
One major feature of Gmail is the chat. You are able to quickly talk to others and messages can be sent between both users within seconds. This can be much easier especially if you wanted to ask a question or know something quickly which can be much better than sending an email and waiting for a reply which could take a longer period of time. Below is a screenshot of the chat service on Gmail:

I have also found a video that shows some key features of Gmail and why it should be chosen for an email service:

On the main page of Hotmail, 'Hotmail higlights' are shown. These are updates of birthday reminders, emails from friends, social network updates and appointments that are upcoming. This is a great way of clearly showing what is new since you last signed in without actually going onto the inbox or clicking on the other tabs. It is very clearly laid out and easy to read and follow for convienience. Many people find Hotmail to be an excellent way of keeping track of life's upcoming events, almost like a calender and planner. Below is a screenshot of what the main page looks like with the 'Hotmail higlights' shown.

Hotmail has a one-click filtration. By just a click you can filter your entire inbox to show only those messages that are from specified contacts or from social networks. This, like Gmail, can make things run alot faster and makes organising of the emails alot easier.
Hotmail has a great feature named 'Sweep'. This does exactly what it says: it cleans up all the emails from a folder and from selected users. On top it is integrated with mail rules so if you want to perform a certain action every time, you can set it right there. This is a great, fast way to delete emails-especially junk mail! Below are the steps to 'sweep'.

Hotmail has a 'smart screen' this helps to block off 'spam' and junk mail. When a message is opened that is seen to be 'junk' by hotmail the message cannot be read or attachments cannot be opened until you have selected that the email is not junk and harmful to your computer and have saved the email address in your address book. This helpful feature stops many viruses spreading, proving the feature to be extremely useful and needed!

As many businsesses or workers may have many messages recieved every day it can be hard to track and read a certain email. On hotmail they have set up 'Inbox search auto-complete search' this helps quickly find, identify and open any email with the keywords you have entered into the search box. When you type a single letter in the search box, Hotmail's 'advanced-made-easy' search displays the emails that contain the key words that were entered. This feature is extremely useful and saves a lot of time for workers.

Camparison:

Both Gmail and Hotmail have features that promote themselves. Although Hotmail has many good features that help the user save time and get the most out of sending emails, i personally believe Gmail has outstanding features that are extremly helpful and useful. The chat works very well, the filters are the best known ones for emails, the 'star' feature that saves time and helps quickly find certain email. Overall I prefer Gmail and prefer its excellent qualities!

I also found a video comparing both hotmail and Gmail: