Lecture 1b: Internet Communication

What You Will Learn Today

1. Compare features of Internet communication tools
2. Use electronic mail and attachments, mailing lists and listservs, and newsgroups
3. Use real-time communication tools
4. Use remote login tools

Electronic Mail Setup

• get an e-mail account from a provider or use free on-line e-mail like Yahoo or Hotmail
• choose an e-mail program, e.g. Outlook, Outlook Express, Evolution
• configure the program (give the IP address of the e-mail server, set other options)

Electronic Mail: Essential Features

• read mail in in-box
• send mail (to username@address, subject, reply-to, body of message)
  • send to multiple recipients (separate with commas)
• reply to sender or all recipients
• forward (as attachment or inline text)
• folders: create, save, delete messages

Electronic Mail: Attachments

• to send a file as an attachment, compose a new message
• click attachment (if necessary)
• click browse and type or locate the file to attach
• click attach or add
• click done (if necessary)

Electronic Mail: Additional Features

• sort messages (by date, sender, subject, size)
• create a signature which is automatically added to every message
• add names to the addressbook and send using names from addressbook
• create a mailing list with a group of addresses
• check spelling
• detect spam; create e-mail filters to automatically throw away spam
• encrypt messages (encode so only the intended receiver can read it)
• assign a priority to a message (e.g. high/urgent, normal, or low)

Mailing Lists

• find a list of interest (e.g. www.liszt.com)
• to subscribe, send a message to the listserv address with subscribe listname yourname as the message body
• the listserv address is for subscribing, unsubscribing, and sending other commands
• the list address is for sending a message to the entire list of subscribed users
• be careful when sending a message to the list, since many people will be reading it
• you can send a message only to the person who posted a message to the list
• you will continue to receive messages while you are subscribed
• to unsubscribe, send a message to the listserv with unsubscribe listname or signoff listname as the message body

USENET Newsgroups

• electronic bulletin board with conferencing features
• created to better organize group discussions on the Internet
• main categories include news, comp, sci, soc, talk, rec, misc, alt, de, fr
• example of a newsgroup name: comp.lang.java
• usually contains a FAQ file with answers to frequently asked questions about the topic

Using USENET Newsgroups

• newsgroup readers are built into browser suites e.g. Netscape Collabra, Mozilla News, Microsoft Internet Explorer
• to configure, you need to know your provider's newsgroup server, e.g. if available at UMU it might be news.umu.ac.ug
• you can search for a newsgroup within the list that appears, or e.g. www.dejanews.com
• to choose a newsgroup, select it from the collapsible list and click Subscribe
• to read a message (also called a posting), click on it
• to read replies, click the + next to the posting to expand it
• you can compose a new posting, reply to an existing posting, or reply directly to the author of a posting
• you can delete a message you posted but should only do so if nobody has replied

Real-Time Communication

• Chat and messaging programs allow you to communicate in real time.
• You need to make a connection with a chat server.
• Internet-based chat services include MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.
• Microsoft Windows 98 has a chat program.
• On UNIX/Linux systems, programs include talk, irc and xchat.

NetMeeting

• On PCs running Windows you can use NetMeeting to communicate on LANs or the Internet using a variety of tools.
• NetMeeting includes chat, whiteboard, and audio and video conferencing.
• NetMeeting allows you to share applications and even the entire desktop, e.g. for classroom presentations/demonstrations

Remote Login

• Remote login programs allow you to log into another computer and run commands as if you were in front of that computer.
• Remote login programs include telnet, rlogin, rsh and ssh.
• ssh includes encryption so nobody can spy on the connection.
• To use Telnet, open a command prompt and type telnet hostname where hostname is the computer's name e.g. server.umu.ac.ug
• You need to have a username and password on the computer you are trying to connect to.

Questions

• When should you use e-mail? Listservers? Newsgroups?
• When should you use real-time tools?
• Why are remote login tools useful? What dangers do they present?

To Do After Class

• Become familiar with all the e-mail features of UMU NeoMail.
• Sign up for a free Yahoo or Hotmail account and become familiar with the features listed above.
• Explore listservs, newsgroups, chat and other communication programs
• Read Computers in Your Future module 7b: using email.
• Read Hofstetter ch. 5-10.
• Also see yesterday's lecture notes.