E-mail & Communication

 
 

The purpose of this guide is to identify the concepts of e-mail and how to manage it effectively.

Introduction

When the Internet was first established (as ARPANET) in the late 1960s, the researchers working on it soon realized the need for a means to coordinate their efforts by using the network. It was out of this need, in 1972, that Ray Tomlinson (one of the researchers working on the ARPANET project) created the first e-mail application. This first e-mail program could selectively read messages from a list, forward, respond to, and file messages.

Communication via the Internet has made vast improvements since then, with everything from chat rooms all the way to video conferencing taking place over the 'Net now. This section examines some of the more popular types of communication, including special detail on effective communication with e-mail.

Types of Online Communication

IThe four most popular types of communication over the Internet are (in no particular order): e-mail, chat, instant messaging, and SMS.

E-mail

There are two main ways that people access their e-mail; via an Internet e-mail application on their computer, or through a Web-based e-mail interface on the World Wide Web.

Getting an e-mail account

Most of the time, when you subscribe to Internet access with an Internet Service Provider (ISP), you will also get an e-mail account. This gives you an e-mail "address", to which people can send you e-mail, as well as an e-mail "mailbox" on the ISP servers, where your mail is stored until you download it to your computer.

Web-based e-mail

Hotmail

 

Sometimes, you need to access your e-mail when away from your computer. Web-based e-mail access allows you to read e-mail, send messages, and manage your mail folders from any computer by logging onto a Web site. Many ISPs provide their subscribers with Web access to their e-mail.

Another very popular type of e-mail account is the free Web-based e-mail service, such as Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail. These sites offer users a free e-mail address and Web-based access to it, with the bill footed by the advertisers who pay for ads to be shown on the Web page.

Chat (IRC)

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) has long been a popular way for many people to get together online to chat all at once. The way that it works is simple: you log on to a chat server, join a chat room (or channel), and every message entered by a person in that room is broadcast to everyone else in the same room.

Chat servers must belong to a chat network, such as EFnet (the original IRC network), Undernet, and DALnet. All chat channels on a particular network are relayed to all the other servers connected to the same network (hence the name Internet Relay Chat).

You can easily recognize a chat channel by the # symbol before the name of the channel (for example, #chat). The name of the channel will usually give a good indication about the main topic of discussion on that channel. For instance, the channel #music-videos is devoted to discussing music videos, naturally.

 

A chat client is the software you use to access the IRC server, and most chat clients are designed to permit a lot more than simply relaying chat text. IRC clients can also log (record) chat sessions, send private messages, and even send and receive files to other users chatting.

Instant Messaging

Similar to chat, instant messaging (IM) uses special software to send private messages to users connected to the same instant messaging network. However, instant messaging differs from IRC in several ways:

  • Messages are always sent privately. Only one person should receive a message.
  • You have a "presence" on the instant messaging network that is broadcast to everyone who has you assigned to their contact list. That means that whenever you log on to the instant messaging network, all your friends are immediately notified of your presence. And vice versa when you log off of the network.
  • You are notified every time you receive a new message from a contact, usually by a chat window opening or a flashing icon and (possibly) a sound effect.

    • ICQ Lite

     
    Choosing an instant messaging network

    The most popular instant messaging clients & networks are ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger (notice a trend, here?) Each has its own network, so you can only send messages to people who are connected to the same messaging network as you. Your choice of which network to use will probably be most influenced by numbers: the more people you know on one network, the more useful being on that network will be. Each instant messaging network has its special advantages, too: ICQ allows you to send messages to other users even when they are not connected, while MSN has integrated the Hotmail e-mail service into their instant messaging so that you are alerted to new e-mail messages as they arrive, as well as instant messages.

    SMS

    SMS stands for Short Message Service , and SMS messages are indeed short: each message cannot be longer that 160 alphanumeric characters (i.e., numbers, letters, and punctuation).

    SMS was originally developed as a technology to transfer text messages to wireless pagers, but has gradually evolved into something much more versatile. Many wireless pagers with SMS functionality allow users to compose and send messages back and forth from the same device, thereby can be used to chat with short text messages.

    Currently, there are many devices that can send and receive SMS messages: cellular phones, pagers, text paging devices, and even PDAs. SMS messages can also be transmitted across the Internet. For instance, ICQ allows you to send SMS messages to wireless devices and some wireless devices allow you to send SMS messages to an Internet e-mail address.

     

    Trillian (all-in-one)
    Trillian is an interesting development in communication software. An all-in-one messaging hybrid software, Trillian lets you "do it all" from one single interface. From Trillian you can access all the big instant messaging networks: AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, and ICQ, as well as connect to an IRC chat server.

    Trillian comes in two versions. There is the completely free Trillian 0.74 - anyone can download and use it to connect to the four IM networks as well as an IRC server. Trillian Pro has all the same instant messaging and chat functionality as 0.74, but it also allows you to send SMS messages install and use Trillian plugins (small applications that add program features), and even work as a personal address book and agenda (as well as much more). Naturally, the Pro version of Trillian is commercial (you have to pay for it), and it can be paid for and downloaded online.

    E-mail Concepts

     

    Before learning effective communication with e-mail, you should know the tools with which you are working.

     
    Dissecting an e-mail address

    The e-mail address is divided into three parts:

    Username >>> @ >>> domain
    • The domain identifies the network or Internet service provider to which the e-mail is sent.
    • The username is your unique name for your address.
    • The @ is the universal e-mail character indicating that the username is found at the domain.

    E-mail address diagram

     
     
    Message components
    Composing an e-mail message: Outlook Express
     
    Header

    The header of an e-mail address is where all the important addressing information is kept, along with data about the message itself.

    Header fields

    To

    The To field is where the e-mail address of the message's recipient is entered.

    Subject

     

    The subject is essentially a title, or a very short summary, of an e-mail. Ideally, it should contain some sort of reference to the e-mail's content.

    CC/BCC

     

    To Carbon Copy (CC) a message to someone is to send them a copy of the e-mail, even though they are not the e-mail's intended recipient. This is a common practice in business communications, where many people in an organization often need to be made aware of certain communications, even if they are not actively involved in the conversation.

    BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy. Any people included in the BCC recipient list of an e-mail receive a copy of the message, but their name is not included in the message headers, and no one else who received the message knows that they were sent a copy.

    Body

    The body of the message is, of course, the most important part. Everything you need to say is entered here, and this is what the recipient will be reading.

    Signature

    Many e-mails will end with a few lines of text containing information about the sender such as their full name, e-mail address, phone number, address, and perhaps even an interesting quote by a famous figure that the sender admires. This information is called the signature, and is usually set to be automatically added to the end of every e-mail sent by that user.

    Attachments

    Whether your e-mail client enforces it or not, saving an attached file to your computer before opening it is actually a good security practice. Some viruses and malicious files are spread because they are named to "look" like a safe file in an e-mail, so unsuspecting users won't hesitate to launch it, falling victim to the virus. However, once saved to the computer, a virus containing malicious code is more likely to appear in its true form, and is more likely to be picked up by anti-virus software.


    Independent files can be attached to an e-mail so that the recipient receives a copy with the message. How these files appear in the e-mail depends on which e-mail client is being used. Some e-mail clients will display files like images directly in the body of the message. For the most part, though, e-mail clients require you to save an attached file to your hard drive before you can open it.

     

    Replying

    Once a message is read, you will most likely want to write a letter back to the sender. Instead of just starting a blank e-mail from scratch, most e-mail clients allow you to execute a Reply command, which will usually carry out the following tasks:

  • Automatically address the new e-mail to the sender of the last message.
  • Use the same subject as the original message, prepended by "RE:".
  • Quote text from the original message to use as reference.

    • Replying to an e-mail does not include attachments from the original message. After all, the person to whom you are replying sent the attachments in the first place, so it's safe to assume that they have a copy of the same files.

    When composing a reply message, you should always answer direct questions or comments by typing your response below quoted text with the original questions. That way, the recipient of your reply will know easily to what you are referring.

    Forwarding

    To forward a message is to send a copy of that message on to someone who was not an original recipient of the message. Forwarding a message quotes the e-mail in its entirety, and includes attachments from the original message.

    Spamming

    Spam is the nickname given to any unsolicited e-mail. Most of the time, this type of e-mail consists of unsolicited advertisements for Internet Web sites or other products. Typically, it is considered annoying because it can sometimes be offensive, and often comes in large quantities. By extension, the term spam has now come to mean any type of e-mail received in large quantities, or any message that was unlooked-for and is bothersome.

    Flaming

    A flame is the nickname given to any incredibly harsh and often insulting personal attack through e-mail. The term came about on the USENET newsgroups, where participants would comment that a particular post was so hotheaded and insulting that the message was on fire. Hence, the use of the term flame. Flaming, or to flame, is to write and send an emotional personal attack in an e-mail. This is most commonly found in e-mail mailing lists, but by extension any extremely critical and harsh message is now called a flame.

    NOTE: See Table 2 for tips on how not to write flames when you send critical e-mails.

    Effective E-mail Communication

     

    Effective e-mail communication, like any composition, is the result of many different influences. Try to strike a good balance between all the following factors, and your messages will always be well received.


    Before you compose the message

    Before you compose the message, consider the following elements.

    Subject

    Very often overlooked, the subject is a very important part of your message. The e-mail's subject line is both a title and a summary all in one. Because of this, it is extremely important to keep subjects concise, but pertinent. Many people who receive a large number of e-mails will decide which messages to open and which to set aside based on the subject. A message with an unclear subject is likely to get overlooked or, worse, deleted without being opened. Conversely, if someone is pressed for time, the knowledge that your message can be put aside for later will make them more receptive to what you have to say, instead of being resentful for having to read the e-mail just to discover its intent.


    An example of a good e-mail subject line would be:

    Subject: Need help with outline for tomorrow

     

    While an example of not-so-helpful subject line might be:

     

    Subject: Outline

     

    In the latter case, it is clear that the e-mail is about an outline, but nowhere is it mentioned that the message is time-sensitive. Unless the recipient is more or less expecting to discuss the Outline, he or she may not even understand what is being referred to.

    Replying

    Generally, it is always preferred to add RE: to the beginning of any subject line in a message reply, and to include the subject from the previous message. This tells the recipient that the message is a continuation of a previous topic, and not something new. As mentioned earlier, most e-mail clients will do this for you automatically when you reply to a message.

    However, use your judgment when it comes to the subject. Again, in a case where time is of the essence, it might make more sense to use a new subject line in a reply with the word "Urgent", or something to that effect.

    Addressing

    To make the purpose of a message clear, only use the addresses of the people to which it is directly intended in the To field. Put the addresses of anyone else you want to see the message in the CC field. That way, they know that no direct action or reply is required on their part, and that the message will simply to keep them "in the loop". By the same token, if you intend someone to reply to an e-mail, never place their address in the CC field, or they might misinterpret your intentions.

    CC & privacy

    Most people consider their e-mail address to be private knowledge. Just like most people don't go advertising their personal phone number to everybody they meet, so do they like to make the decision about who they give their e-mail address to. If you want to send an e-mail to a large number of people, never place everybody's address in the CC field. You could be inadvertently revealing their address to someone from whom they've been keeping it.

    Instead, address the message to yourself or to someone who you know does not mind their address being made public, and address everyone else in the BCC field.

    Signature

    Multiple signatures
    Some e-mail clients (Outlook, for example) allow you to prepare more than one signature, and add them to messages as needed. This is a great way to keep different types of e-mail separate, if you only have one e-mail address. Use one signature for personal e-mails, and one for more official communications. Just be careful not to mix them up!


    Using a signature is a very good idea, for many reasons. A signature:

  • Gives a professional feel to an e-mail (even if it's a private message).
  • Provides your reader with more ways to contact you. Especially for business communications, e-mail sometimes just isn't good enough, and making a telephone or fax number available for the reader can be extremely helpful.
  • Can be more than just contact information. If you are asked the same questions often (again, this is most common in business communications), you can place that information in the signature of a message. In a way, answering their question before they even ask it.
    • Composing the Message

    Like any other form of writing, the main point to an e-mail is to get make sure that your reader understands the message you are trying to convey. Keep the following points in mind when composing your message.

    Getting your point across
    Style

    This is more along the line of common sense, but it is doubly important with e-mail to use the appropriate style that corresponds with the type of communication. Because e-mail messages are electronic, and thus easily deleted, many people have a tendency to not assign the same importance to an e-mail message as they would to a paper letter.

    Making your business e-mail as business-like as possible should keep the reader from easily disregarding it. Just because you are not seeing someone face to face, you should not drop the usual conventions of politeness.

    Flaming (how not to)

    As mentioned previously, flaming is when someone sends a message that is (often deliberately) insulting and carries an extremely angry tone. Flames are never well received, no matter how deserved you might think the recipient is. The following are a few simple tips to avoid writing flames when discussing a delicate subject (and to avoid being flamed).

    Flaming tips

    Don't insult the author

    Everyone is entitled to an opinion. If you disagree, debate their information and their reasons. The instant you insult the person, they will stop paying full attention to what you have written.

    I.e., don't write: "What a stupid conclusion!"

    Write instead: "I didn't come to the same conclusion at all."

    Try to write carefully

    On the Internet, people judge you most often by the way you write - after all, they can't see you or hear you. If your message contains many spelling or grammatical mistakes, your reader is likely to assume that you don't know what you're talking about, or even that you are uneducated. This may be the farthest thing from the truth, but if you have something important to say, people will stop respecting your opinion the instant it becomes hard to read what you wrote.

    Don't use absolutes

    Always state that you are expressing your opinion, and back it up by facts. Saying "just because" or "this is how it goes" never wins an argument. More importantly, when someone is angry, an attack on what they are saying is often interpreted as a personal attack. By making it known that you are expressing your opinion and how you came to that opinion, your statements will seem less confrontational.

    Language

    Swear words are immature, and that's how readers will view you if you use that type of language. It might be all right for messages between peers, but when exchanging thoughts with strangers over the Internet, it's never a good idea.
    Paragraphs

    Most e-mail windows don't have the same size and range as the printed page. Use shorter paragraphs to better get your point across. It will be easier for readers to scroll through your message, making it easier for them to absorb what you are saying.

    Punctuation

    As mentioned above in How not to flame, the presentation of your message is extremely important to how the reader perceives you. If you ignore the general rules of punctuation, then they will perceive you as either ignorant, or inconsiderate.

    Creative punctuation can also help a lot in emphasizing your points. The following table demonstrates a few examples of creative punctuation. Generally, creative punctuation will be used in more informal e-mails.

    Punctuation examples

    Punctuation

    Example

    Purpose

    ?!?

    ?!? He said what about me?!?

    Expresses shock and disbelief. Can be used before the sentence too, for added effect.

    ...

    Guess what... We're having a baby!

    The ellipsis indicates a pause, often for theatrical effect.

    * *

    I *really* liked that movie.

    Asterisks around a word indicate that the word is read with emphasis.

    / /

    It doesn't /quite/ work that way.

    Another form of emphasis, this time usually to denote hesitation or sarcasm.

    CAPITAL LETTERS

    I'll say it again: I DON'T WANT TO GO.

    Writing in capital letters is known as shouting.

    s p a c e s

    I'll say it again: I d o n ' t w a n t t o g o.

    Placing spaces between each letter of a word makes it seem as though you are repeating something very slowly.

    _word_

    I need an answer _yesterday_.

    Underscores placed on either side of a word make it look like the word has been underlined for emphasis.
    Emoticons

    E-mail smileys (or emoticons) are probably one of the most unique developments brought about by the Internet. In order to convey emotions, people started using combinations of certain punctuation to create little caricatures of the human face. These emoticons can be used to indicate whether you are grinning, frowning, upset, or kidding, just for starters.

    Many people have tried to invent some very elaborate emoticons involving four or more symbols, but the following table will show you some of the more common emoticons you are likely to see (and use).

    Common emoticons
    Emoticon

    Name and meaning

    Example
    :-)

    Smiley: shows that you are smiling. Can be used to show that you are happy, or joking.

    I finally got my check in the mail. :-)
    :-(

    Frown: shows that you are sad or disappointed.

    I didn't get my check in the mail today, and it's now Friday. :-(
    ;-)

    Wink: just like a wink in real life, the wink emoticon is meant to indicate teasing or tongue-in-cheek humor.

    And what time did you get home last night? ;-)
    :-O

    Gasp: indicates shock or surprise.

    You didn't really, did you?! :-O
    :-D

    Big grin: shows that you are really happy or excited.

    Guess what concert I just got tickets to? :-D
    :-|

    Grim face: expresses disappointment

    I have to work overtime tomorrow again. :-|
    :-P

    The raspberry: this playful smiley looks like it is sticking its tongue out. Used to indicate playful silliness or mockery.

    I'm crazy? No you're the crazy one! :-P
    Format

    A lot of popular e-mail clients, like Microsoft Outlook or Netscape E-mail, allow you to add all sorts of character formatting to an e-mail message. They do this by marking up the text in HTML or Rich Text format. This is great if the person receiving the e-mail has the same type of e-mail client, but many people do not. In that case, it is recommended to use Plain Text as the message format whenever possible. For example, the following paragraph in an e-mail client that supports HTML would look like this to you.

    So where were you today? We waited for an hour, but you never showed up!


    This same text would appear like this if it were sent to someone whose e-mail client is set to only read text:

     

    So <I>where were you today</I>? We <U>waited</U> for an hour, <B>but you never showed up</B>!

    The HTML mark-up symbols make text much harder to read if the e-mail is read in plain text format.

    Effective E-mail Management

    Using e-mail effectively is not only about sending messages that look and sound good. It's also about carefully organizing the messages you receive. Storing all your messages in the Inbox can get quite disorganized after a while, particularly if you are the type of person who receives ten or more messages daily. Some of the e-mail management techniques below require certain functionality on the part of the e-mail client. Not all e-mail clients may perform these features, though the majority should.


    Organizing Mail into Folders

    The first thing to do is to sort any e-mails you plan to keep into properly named folders. If in six months time you need to revisit the details of a certain aspect of a project, it is much easier to simply open the folder that contains all the messages associated with that project, then to hunt through an Inbox of 1000 or more messages to find the right one.

    Mailbox with folders: Outlook Express

     

    Make a habit of moving messages you intend to keep out of your Inbox and into appropriately named folders, even if you don't receive many messages daily. It is a good habit to get into should your mail traffic begin to pick up.

     

    Dealing with Spam

    There is no questioning that spam can become very annoying. So what can you do about spam you are receiving? Here are a few measures you can take, both preventative and proactive.

    Proactive measures
    Some e-mail clients (such as Microsoft Outlook or Netscape E-mail) will have automatic junk mail filters. These are groups of automatic filters which usually scan message content for certain key words, and can be configured to either delete it outright, or to automatically move it into a junk mail folder. It is best to configure junk mail filters to simply move the message to a folder, as the filters are not perfect, and can occasionally trap legitimate messages that you might otherwise have wanted to see. With the junk mail filter in place, make a habit of visiting this folder once every day or so to empty it, and watch for "real" letters.

    Never reply to spam. This just confirms that your address is "live", and encourages the spammers to sell your information to other spam advertisers. There are some third-party applications that can proactively fight spam. MailWasher, for instance, is an application that logs into your mail server, identifies spam for you, and uses your mail server to send a bounced message to the spammer's mail server. Most of the time, receiving a bounced message will take your address off a spammer's list, reducing the amount of spam you receive.

    Preventative measures

    If spam offers a Web site to visit to unsubscribe you from their list, don't use it unless you know you were the one who subscribed to the spam in the first place. All this does is confirm that your address is live, and encourages unscrupulous advertisers to send you more spam. Be careful not to use your actual e-mail address when signing up for free online services from untrustworthy sources, or when posting to public forums (like USENET newsgroups). Unscrupulous spammers have programs that routinely scan public sites for e-mail addresses, and automatically add them to lists. Instead, try spelling out the e-mail address ("joe_user(at)hotmail.com"), or adding the word NOSPAM into your address (joe_userNOSPAM@hotmail.com).

    MailWasher.net


     

    Mailbox Rules

    A mailbox rule is a command that the mail client automatically executes whenever a new message is received. Usually, these commands carry out some sort of mail management.

    For example, you could create a rule that displays all e-mails from the same sender in red text. Every time you receive a new message, the e-mail client looks to see who the sender of the message is. If the specified sender is found, the message is highlighted in red.

    Mailbox Rules: Outlook Express

     
    Mailbox Filters

    A mailbox filter is similar to a mailbox rule, except that filters generally delete messages that match specified criteria, or collect them in designated folders. Some e-mail clients treat rules and filters as the same thing. Many e-mail clients will have specialized filters for dealing with spam and junk mail.

    Flags

    When you send an e-mail, many clients will also allow you to activate certain flags, such as Urgent or Low Priority, to help your recipient more easily sort the received message. Never overuse flags such as Urgent, or your recipients are likely to stop believing that your urgent messages as truly urgent.

    Some specialized e-mail clients (such as Lotus Notes) will also have other more specialized flags, such as "Personal" or "Joke" to further help e-mail recipients know at a glance what the content of a message is about. These are useful, but like text formatting, only work if your recipient is using the same e-mail client. Use these only in cases where you know for sure that the other person can read the flags.

    Address Book

    If you often send e-mail to the same person, you will save yourself a lot of time by adding that person's name to your e-mail client's address book (almost all clients have an address book feature). This will give you two advantages.

    Nicknames

    You can assign a nickname to somebody's address, so that when addressing a message to someone you just need to type in the nickname, instead of their full e-mail address (which could be quite long, and is most likely difficult to memorize).

    Keeping somebody's address in your address book means that you never lose their address. Never assume that leaving a message from that person in your Inbox means that you can always refer back to it for the address. Messages can be deleted by mistake.

    Contact lists

    Many e-mail client address books will allow you to create a contact list (sometimes also called groups). A contact list is a list of contacts in your address book, stored as an entry in the address book. Any e-mail addressed to a contact list is sent to each member of that list. If you regular send out e-mails to the same group of people, creating an easy-to-remember contact list with all of their addresses will save you time when you send e-mails to the group. It also lowers your chances of forgetting who needs to be included as part of the group, if you don't send e-mails to that group on a regular basis.

    Flags: Lotus Notes mail delivery options

     
    Archiving

    E-mail messages take up space on your hard drive, especially if they contain file attachments. After a while, you may need to make more space on your computer. It is for this purpose that many e-mail clients have archiving features.
    An e-mail archive is a folder full of e-mail messages, but which has been compressed to save disk space. Compressing archives means that many more e-mail messages can be stored in a smaller amount of disk space, but it also means it will take your computer longer to uncompress and open the messages stored in an archive.

    So when do you want to archive your e-mail? Generally you will want to archive messages when:

    • You have lots of e-mail messages that you probably will not consult very often, or ever again.
    • You need to save valuable disk space being taken up by the messages.
    • You want to store a copy of e-mail messages on some type of removable storage, such as a CD-R or a Zip disk. Mail archives are generally compressed into one file, which makes it easier to copy and store on removable storage.

    Archiving Options: Outlook

    Summary

    To sum up, here are some of the rules to follow for effective e-mail management.

  • When replying to a message, always quote the text of questions you are answering or statements you are commenting on.
  • Take care to use careful punctuation and spelling. People could assume you are uneducated if a message contains too many errors.
  • User shorter paragraphs to make your message easier to read in smaller windows.
  • Creative punctuation and emoticons can help liven up a message and make your text more expressive.
  • Use plain text message format whenever possible to make sure that your message can be read by the largest possible number of e-mail clients.
  • Sort related messages into folders as soon as possible to keep your Inbox for cluttering up. Certain e-mail clients can help automate this sorting by using mailbox rules.
  • Use message priority flags sparingly to indicate message priority.
  • Use your e-mail client's Address Book feature to make addressing messages easier (with nicknames) and more effective (using contact lists).
  • Archive old or seldom-consulted messages to save on hard disk space.


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