CMSY129 Principles of the Internet
Week #2 - Mailing Lists and Newsgroups
January 5 - January 11, 2002
The core of the internet is communication between people. The most basic internet service is email, which can take the form of private messages between people or groups, and mailing lists, which are services you subscribe to to participate in an ongoing email conversation on a topic that interests you. In this lesson, we'll explore both of these internet services. We'll send and receive email with attachments, look at the mailing lists (also called listserv) available online and subscribe to one of them.
Email Basics
Email is a letter or document composed, mailed, received, and read through computers. It's delivered through the phone lines instead of through the postal service. The major benefit of email is speed - many email messages arrive almost immediately at their destination. Also, if there's a problem with delivering the message, your email program will usually notify you of that fact. The cost is low, especially compared with long-distance phone calls. You can take the time and find exactly the right words. You can save messages and refer to them later. And you can read and answer email at times convenient for you.
There are some email protocols to be aware of. Keep messages conversational but brief and to the point. If you reply to someone's email message, it's a good idea to include part of their original message to identify which email message you're responding to, but it's not necessary to include the entire thing.
Remember that email is not particularly secure means of communication. Don't use it for important private information, or to pass on bad news. And don't type in ALL CAPS – IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE SHOUTING.
Also, beware of the spam (unwanted email) that makes the rounds with the same tired claims – forwarded jokes, chicken soup of the soul missives, fake virus alerts, and that ubiquitous Neiman-Marcus cookie recipe. Check out all the urban legends at Snopes.
Listserv Basics
The Internet is a powerful tool for communication, but its greatest and most widespread use is email and news. One of the first things people do when they start using the Net is subscribe to mailing lists devoted to personal or professional subjects that interest them.
A mailing list is (usually) a group of people who exchange email about a subject that interests them. For instance, there could be a mailing list called "stargazers" for a group of astronomy buffs who write to each other about how much they love astronomy. That's really all there is to it - if you join a mailing list about a subject you like, you'll start getting lots of mail on the subject, and you'll get to know people with similar interests, all over the world.
All you need to participate is an email address. You join a mailing list by "subscribing" to it. There's no money involved - you're just adding your email address to a distribution list. To subscribe, send an email message to the list administrator, who will add your email address to the list. You'll get an email reply that gives you the details about the list and how to participate. Soon, you'll start receiving mail from other list members.
When you subscribe to a list, you will get an email message with instructions on how to unsubscribe to the list. Save this message for future reference. Usually, to remove yourself from a list, you send the list administrator an email message with "unsubscribe" in the body of the message, followed by the name of the list and your email address. The process varies from one list to another, depending on which mailing list manager the system uses.
You can find many mailing lists on Liszt: http://www.liszt.com.
Newsgroup Basics
Newsgroups are online – and public – forums dedicated to specific topics, such as computers, business topics, or social issues. Usenet (short for Users Network) is a collection of thousands of bulletin boards. Newsgroups are similar to mailing lists because they're both devoted to specific subjects. However, when you post to a mailing list, the message is emailed to all the subscribers to that list. With Usenet, your article is posted to a public place, and users have to go to the newsgroup online to read what you've written.
You can browse newsgroups on the web by going to www.dejanews.com.
Some tips for participating in newsgroups:
- Know the topic of discussion before you post. It's a good idea to lurk on a list to get a sense of the tone and personality of the list, and what's already been posted on the subject.
- If the newsgroup or mailing list has a FAQ (frequently asked questions), read it – your question may already have been addressed by the group.
- Consider taking a subject "off list" with private email to an individual who has posted to the group, rather than prolonging a thread that is no longer of interest to the entire group.
- Remember that what you post is public – be sure to reread your messages before sending them; you can't take them back once they're sent.
Reading: URLS with information on this subject
Self Test: Take the quiz for this unitAssignments:
Mailing Lists (20 points)
Select at least three mailing lists that might be relevant to your career in IT or other topic of interest to you, and supply the information about this list using this online form.Searching Email Directories (20 points)
Using an online search engine for email (such as www.411.com, www.switchboard.com, or similar engine), look up your own email address and those of two other people you know and supply that information via this online form.Newsgroups (60 points)
Use Dejanews (www.deja.com) to look up a topic of interest to you. Report on your experiences with this tool using this online form.- Portal Site Comparison (50 points)
Complete the portal site comparison using this online form (50 points)Click this link to review the grading system for this course
Deadline: Plan to turn this in no later than January 11th, 2002.
Email me: if you have questions about this assignment