During this week we will cover the Top
10 Internet Collaboration Tools
interesting topics: e-mail,
listserv/Newsgroups, chat, and netiquette etc.
At first glance, one could think that there can't be too much to learn about
the topic of e-mail as you have already demonstrated competency in this area
by sending messages to your instructor (and hopefully each other!). It
is hoped that you have learned to identify the components of e-mail addresses:
username@computername.domain
Usernames are determined by the service provider. In this case, of Arp ISD all students e-mail user names begin with the year of graduation
01, 02, 03, etc.
then the first four letters of the last name, and first letter of the first name.
Example: Jordan Rousseau graduates in 2005. His email address is:
Other systems use some or all letters of the last name and perhaps an intitial.
The part of the e-mail address after the @ which means AT) literally gives
the name of the server or provider.
AOL users are always
screenname@AOL. On this system, we are all first_lastname@Embanet.
This, too, is
a key peice of the address because it sends the e-mail to the
correct computer that will recognize the
username.
The last part of the e-mail address is a three-letter domain
designation. COM stands for "commercial" or a business
address. AOL, CompuServe, and yahoo are
businesses have addresses with the .com domain, for
example: IBM.com, Shareware.com, and amazon.com.
The ".edu" is for all addresses from academic institutions be they schools or universities. There are other domains as well:
.gov is for governmental sights;
.org is for organizations (such as arp.sprnet.org).
The use of capital letters can make a difference but the default is to go all lower case. Check out http://www.learnthenet.com/english/section/email.html
E-mail can bring a wealth of information into the classroom. In the "old days" we called them pen pals; now they are "Key Pals"...
Classroom Exchange http://www.epals.com/
You've Got Mail! Ten nifty ways teachers can use e-mail to extend kid's
learning
http://www.electronic-school.com/0398f5.html
Pitsco's Ask an Expert http://www.askanexpert.com/askanexpert/
HINT: Be sure to read the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section before asking
the expert! Can.you tell why this is a good idea?
Pitsco's has links to such sites
as
Ask a Volconologist http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/ask_a.html
Listservers and Newsgroups
Your reading assignment does an excellent job discussing
these topics. I encourage
you
to explore Newsgroups on your own as our course will focus on listservers.
Listservs are mailing lists that you subscribe to that are free.
There
are two types: moderated and unmoderated. A moderated list is edited
and messages are checked to see that they are on the topic, have a good
subject line so content can be quickly identified, and are not flames. Unmoderated lists allow subscribers to
send a message to everyone on the list without constraints. I have
subscribed to both and prefer a moderated list because I don't have time to
read e-mail that may not be of interest to me. If the list has a lot of
traffic (many messages posted to it each week) this can be important.
However, unmoderated lists can work well if all
subscribers follow
netiquette and stick to the subject. You do need to keep up with the
e-mail as messages can pile up quickly!
A cc of these mesages to me or yourself or others is not necessary. It
may, in fact, cause difficulty in the sign-up process. When you are
subscribing you are really writing to computer which is running a mailing program. It has a limited understanding and is looking for something
to cue it to properly automatically add your address to the list. If
it asks for a blank message, be sure it is blank! Pay special attention to
what the
message should say (such as subscribe sue jones) and delete any
signature file you may have in place in your mesage.
Also, I suggest that you don't indicate that you are just subscribing because you are taking a class... it is considered poor protocol. Just lurk (read) the lists and if it is one that accepts postings, once you have the hang of how it works, you may wish to post something. I usually lurk unless I am inspired to throw my two cents in or in need of information.
Your text lists many listserv opportunities. Check out these searchable
lists:
http://www.liszt.com
http://www.lsoft.com/lists/LIST_Q.html
Netscape's page listing educational listservers at
http://www.cln.org/lists/home.html
But this is a golden
opportunity to to clue you into the concept of a
"metasite." A
metasite is like the ultimate list of "everything you want to know" about
something. In this case, you can consider http://www.cln.org/lists/home.html
a metasite listing lots of links to sites
related to the topic of "educational listservers." As you have
probably discovered by now, you can wind up very far away from the
page that
you originally clicked. Don't forget the "back button" on the browser!
When choosing a list, take a look at how many people subscribe and how active
the list is (how many messages you may expect per week). I have some
lists to which I subscribe that generate only 1 or 2 e-mails per week.
And then I have EDTECH. This list has about 2000 subscribers and is a very
active list. I probably get 75 to 100 e-mails per week. I read
only the ones with the subject "threads" that interest me; the others get
deleted quicklly. When subscribing to lists, be choosy. You may also
un-subscribe
to any list that becomes burdensome.
Webboards (BBSs) are accessed with using a browser (such as Internet Explorer
or Netscape). If you wish to take a peek at one of these you may
look
at http://www.nova.edu/WWWBOARD/gtep/cae504/
Finally, we
look at "netiquette," the do's and don'ts of online communications. These
are matters of common courtesy as well as ways to make sure the correct
message is sent. Adding the "smiley" : ) is a typical convention
indicating the facial expression of the writer. There are many
abreviations to convey meaning such as LOL (laughing out loud) and merely
writing <grin> in the brackets to give clues to the reader since facial
expressions and tone of voice are not part of e-mail. Check out these
sites to learn the "rules of the road" when it comes to the Information
Highway!
Netiquette Home Page http://www.albion.com/netiquette/
Learn the Net: Netiquette: http://www.learnthenet.com/english/html/09netiqt.htm
A Beginner's Guide to Effective E-mail: http://www.webfoot.com/advice/email.top.html
"Life in Cyberspace" -- a link to an AOL resource
What must be considered a "netiquette primer" hop on over to http://jade.wabash.edu/wabnet/info/netiquet.htm