Module 2 - Email Tasks

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?
Looking at an email message, we can find information about the user's 'username' and the domain from which it was sent. From this we can often discover details of the user's full name if addressed in the form of jsmith, john.smith or johns for example, but this would be an unreliable method due to the wide range of naming options available. Also, we might often discover some details about the origin of the message from the domain information, ie. @bigpond.com.au would originate from an Australian ISP. Again, due to the nature of the internet, this is unreliable and there is no way to determine if the message was actually sent from any physical location - the sender may be diverting the message from another address or could even be on holiday overseas and using webmail. If we view the "header" information within a message we can see further information that looks like:

From: support_registration@icq.com
Subject: Welcome New ICQ User!
Date: 25 March 2007 10:59:08 PM
To: atype@people.net.au
Return-Path:
Delivered-To: atype@people.net.au
Received: (qmail 12975 invoked from network); 25 Mar 2007 13:00:27 -0000
Received: from mailgate-02.peopletelecom.com.au ([218.214.224.100]) (envelope-sender ) by dslmail-01.swiftel.com.au (qmail-ldap-1.03) with SMTP for ; 25 Mar 2007 13:00:27 -0000
Received: from postman6.mx.aol.com (postman6.mx.aol.com [205.188.157.129]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mailgate-02.peopletelecom.com.au (Spam Firewall) with ESMTP id 2118136994D for ; Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:59:16 +0800 (WST)
Received: from localhost (owslbfa1-dtc-sip15.net.aol.com [205.188.182.15]) by postman6.mx.aol.com (8.13.1/8.13.1) with SMTP id l2PCx8io007460 for ; Sun, 25 Mar 2007 08:59:09 -0400
X-Asg-Debug-Id: 1174827554-544d00630000-TAYmQj
X-Barracuda-Url: http://mailgate-02.peopletelecom.com.au:8000/cgi-bin/mark.cgi
X-Barracuda-Connect: postman6.mx.aol.com[205.188.157.129]
X-Barracuda-Start-Time: 1174827554
X-Barracuda-Encrypted: DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
Message-Id: <200703251259.l2pcx8io007460@postman6.mx.aol.com>
X-Asg-Orig-Subj: Welcome New ICQ User!
X-Barracuda-Bayes: INNOCENT GLOBAL 0.0000 1.0000 -2.0210
X-Barracuda-Virus-Scanned: by People Telecom Spam Firewall at peopletelecom.com.au
X-Barracuda-Spam-Score: -1.52
X-Barracuda-Spam-Status: No, SCORE=-1.52 using global scores of TAG_LEVEL=3.5 QUARANTINE_LEVEL=1000.0 KILL_LEVEL=6.0 tests=BSF_RULE7568M
X-Barracuda-Spam-Report: Code version 3.1, rules version 3.1.12256 Rule breakdown below pts rule name description ---- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------------- 0.50 BSF_RULE7568M BODY: Custom Rule 7568M

2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?

• 'cc' stands for 'carbon copy' and is used to send an identical message to users other than the primary recipient. Often, those who are cc'd on a message are not expected to take the same action as the primary recipient, but need to know the communication has taken place.

• 'bcc' stands for 'blind carbon copy'. This means that their address information will not be available to other recipients of your message and could be useful for preventing the widespread distribution of spam, or hiding the identity of those recipients (or the fact that the message has been seen by those recipients).
• 'reply all' sends a copy of your reply to all accounts that were included as adressees of the original message you are replying to. ('reply' just sends a reply to the sender of the message.)
  

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

1. We can ensure attachments are received in the format they are intended by co-ordinating the encoding method within the users email client. The most effective method is MIME.
2. Usually, the recipient will need also to have the same software installed on their computer as the person who created the file, particularly for documents that originated in word, photoshop, illustrator, indesign, quark etc.
3. Often, there are problems between systems used ie, Mac vs. PC files.
4. It may be a good idea to include complete information about the origin of the file within the body of the email, ie. "Please find file attached, Example.doc (Windows 2000/Microsoft Word 6.0."
5. Large files should be compressed using software such as Winzip or Stuffit - as long as the recipient has the neccessary software to decompress them.
   
6. A PDF document is a reliable way to send an attachment for wysiwyg viewing but may not be editable by the recipient unless they have the correct software and/or password.
   
7. It is possible for a problem to occur when a file is encoded in ASCII format from the program that created it, ie. if an EPS file from Photoshop is encoded using ASCII formatting it may disply incorrectly (as characters instead of an image) when sent as an attachment in an email.
   

4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?
I don't really filter my email too thoroughly because I don't recieve a lot of unsolicited mail. If anything I ask my email application to class certain senders as 'spam' and I unsubscribe to messages that I might receive from unwanted senders.

5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?
My friends are grouped into a 'friends' folder so I can keep track of them easily. I also have a 'work' folder for similar reasons and a 'web' folder that I group messages from lists I have subscribed to or when a website I have used sends me a message.