6.6 E-mail services
Electronic mail (e-mail) is a means of sending messages from
a computer to one or more other computers. Messages are sent
via a telephone line and delivered to the recipient within a
few seconds, minutes, or hours, to over a day, depending on
the service used and the reliability of the telephone connection.
E-mail is a relatively cheap and increasingly popular way of
communicating among individuals and organisations worldwide.
Different types of connections carry different charges and
advantages. A dial-up connection is the most basic; usually,
you are charged for the use of the telephone line for the duration
of your ‘session’ on the Internet, plus connection
charges and/or a standard monthly fee. Alternatively, if you
live in an area with a good telecommunications infrastructure,
you may be able to obtain a broadband (also called DSL (Digital
Subscriber Line)) connection. Broadband may be quite expensive,
but provides an ‘always on’, much faster Internet
connection and may be more cost-effective if the Internet is
used frequently.
An e-mail message can be a simple text-based message written
directly in e-mail software, or it can include an ‘attachment’
consisting of a word-processed document, spreadsheet, database
or graphics file, or even a software program. A simple text
e-mail can be read by any e-mail software. However, an attachment
can only be read by the same software in which it was prepared.
The recipient therefore needs to have the relevant word-processing,
spreadsheet, database or other software to read attached documents.
See also ‘Portable Document Format (PDF)’, in
Section 6.3.
TIP: Sending attachments
If you are not sure which word-processing software is used by
the person who is receiving the attachment, save the document
as a rich text format (RTF) file, or a text file (TXT) before
sending it. These files can be read by any word-processing software.
A text file only includes the text of the document with no formatting.
A rich text format file keeps basic formatting such as bold
and underline
E-mail addresses indicate the user, service provider, type of
organisation and (usually) the country in which the user is located.
A typical e-mail address is Healthlink Worldwide’s address:
info@healthlink.org.uk
info = the identifier or user name (this could be the name
of an individual, a department or a service)
@ = pronounced ‘at’
healthlink.org.uk = the domain name or organisation name
org = shows that it is an organisation (ac = academic institution,
co = company, gov = government)
uk = country in which the organisation is registered
Each . is pronounced ‘dot’, so the above e-mail
address would be pronounced:
info at healthlink dot org dot uk
Advantages of email
- fast and relatively cheap
- easy to send the same message to more than one person
- text sent via e-mail can be copied into other documents
- does not require a separate telephone line (although the
fax or telephone cannot be used at the same time as sending
e-mail)
- does not require a separate computer
- enables faxes to be sent more cheaply than via a fax machine
- enables multimedia messages (containing sound and movement)
to be sent if the computer has multimedia facilities
- makes networking easier.
Disadvantages of email
- requires computer skills
- requires Internet access and associated fees
- requires training to use the e-mail system
- software can only be used in a few languages
- legal status of messages has not yet been tested in some
countries.
6.6.1 Using e-mail
As well as sending individual messages, e-mail has a wide range
of uses, including sending faxes, participating in electronic
conferences or mailing list discussions, receiving newsletters
and bulletins, and joining networks.
Fax
E-mail can be used to send and receive faxes directly, instead
of printing them out and sending them via a fax machine. It
is cheaper to send faxes by e-mail, because the messages travel
faster, and the telephone charge is for a local call only. This
facility requires a fax modem. It is also important to check
that the Internet service provider can support sending fax over
e-mail.
Electronic conferences
An electronic conference may also be known as a conference list,
discussion list, discussion group, or discussion forum.
Electronic conferences allow a variety of people to communicate
with each other to discuss issues, ask questions and exchange
ideas and experiences. An e-mail sent to the conference address
is automatically distributed to all its members. Some larger
conferences have a 'moderator' who sees all messages before
they are sent out to the member list, to ensure that they are
relevant and appropriate to the conference.
A conference may focus on a subject area of interest, such
as the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS; or it might have
a geographic focus, such as library services in Asia or public
health in India; or it might be aimed at those with a similar
job, such as health managers. A number of conference lists are
available for library and information staff, such as the regional
lists, Aflib, Asialib, Paclib and lists specifically for health
information staff, such as AhilaNet and Medlib.
Conferences are often open to anyone interested in the topic.
They can be subscribed to automatically by sending an e-mail
message to the conference host. Details on how to subscribe
to these electronic conferences are given in Section
6.9.4.
TIP: Handling messages
Some electronic conferences and discussion groups are
very active and you may receive a number of messages each day,
some of which may not be of interest. You could check with your
service provider or other NGOs before subscribing. If you are
going to be away from your e-mail for some time, you can unsubscribe
for that period to avoid a large build-up of messages. Some
very active discussion lists, eg AFRO-NETS, offer subscribers
a weekly summary of messages.
Remember to keep the instructions on how to ‘unsubscribe’.
These are usually included in the welcome message when you first
join.
Electronic mailing lists
The main aim of electronic mailing lists is to improve e-mail
communication between a group of people working together. Electronic
mailing lists may be used for short-term action planning or
discussion before a meeting, or for ongoing general information
sharing and discussion on a particular topic.
For example, Healthlink Worldwide has set up a mailing list
for members of its Middle East Programme’s regional management
group. Members are located in different countries. They use
the mailing list conference to plan meetings and newsletter
editions. This ‘closed’ mailing list (open only
to regional management group members) has an agreed purpose
and a ‘moderator’, who is responsible for ensuring
that it is used for its intended purpose, and for keeping a
record of messages sent.
TIP: Setting up an electronic mailing list
You can set up your own electronic mailing list as long as you
have an Internet service provider that offers this service (most
do). A useful and easy-to-follow guide on how to plan, set up
and use a mailing list, From workplace to workspace: using email
lists to work together, is available on the Internet at http://www.idrc.ca/books/848.html
or in print (see Further Reading section).
TIP: Bellanet
Bellanet (http://www.bellanet.org)
is a Canada-based NGO that supplies services, advice and training
to meet the needs of international development research communities
and other development networks whose members are separated by
geography. Bellanet provides advice and support to a range of
partners on how to most effectively use web- and email-based
tools for group dialogues and efforts toward the sharing of
information.
Electronic newsletters and bulletins
Newsletters and bulletins are becoming increasingly available
over e-mail as well as, or instead of, in print format. They
are distributed in text-based format (without pictures or illustrations),
and are often available free of charge. Some publishers prefer
to distribute their publications over e-mail to speed up delivery
times and to save on print and mailing costs, but offer the
print version to those who cannot or do not want to receive
the electronic version. Some publications are available electronically
only, such as HNPFlash (for details see http://www.worldbank.org/hnpflash)
and WOUGNET Update Newsletter (see
http://www.wougnet.org).
The advantage of receiving newsletters and bulletins over e-mail
is that selected articles or whole issues can be passed on directly
by e-mail to others who may be interested. In addition, sections
can be printed, copied to a word processor and adapted or reproduced
for other materials.
It is worth considering how to store electronic newsletters
and bulletins for reference by others. Key issues or articles
could be printed and filed in the resource centre. They could
also be stored in their own folder on your computer or on a
disk.
Many journals and newsletters are also available on the Internet
for those with full Internet access (see
Section 6.7.4). Usually, you can sign up for regular notification
of the latest issue and website address via e-mail, which will
link to an electronic (html or PDF) version of the document
on the publisher’s website.
Electronic networks
There are a number of networks in developing countries, which
bring together people and organisations with common interests
and a commitment to information sharing. By offering training,
technical support and services such as e-mail, electronic conferences
and discussion lists, and databases, these networks facilitate
communication on issues such as peace, environment, social justice,
international development, education and health.
Examples of electronic networks include SANGONeT (South Africa),
PSDN (Philippines), IndiaLink (India), Alternex (Brazil), Association
for Progressive Communications (APC), Pactok, and SatelLife’s
HealthNet network. The American Association for the Advancement
of Science website provides links to several good sources of
information on electronic networking and connectivity issues:
http://www.aaas.org/international/africa-guide
next: 6.7 The World Wide Web
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