Internet Studies Group List

It was required that we join the group known as Internet Studies at Yahoo Groups.Upon joining up we duly became NetStudyNetizens.A moderator was chosen by a tutor and people drifted in and looked around.Messages were posted,at that stage along the line of "What's next?"

A poll was initiated and most members at that early stage participated.The indications were that everyone was enjoying the course,to different degrees.A database was set up containing the members contact details.

A member added a link to Oasis Log in,and this was very handy when you wanted to go to there.You can set the sort order of the messages so that you don't have to trawl through everything to find the post you want to see.

The Applications List contains Blog Central,a listing of members email addresses and the links to our blogs.This was a particularly practical addition.I like to read the other student blogs and having this in one place makes it easy.Not everyone has added their link yet,but it's early days.

There is a facility to promote the List by placing little links on your web page,and I will attempt to add one of these to my blog.You can "message" the whole group or you can choose to send a private email to a fellow member.

I have my Yahoo email account set up to receive all messages to the group and in this way it is easy to see what is relevant or urgent and as long as you check your mail regularly you don't miss anything.

The List came into it's own when we were setting up contacts with each other to do the Chat tasks of the course.At a glance you could tell who was going to be on what chat program and at what times.Also,chat ID numbers were displayed.It was all very easy to follow.

At the time of this posting we have 29 members.There are links on the Yahoo Groups page to thousands of other lists and you could probably spend years of your life sifting through them and I doubt that you would ever get to the end of it all.For the moment I'll just stick around at our little group.

Another facility of the list is that you can add a photo album.This has an incredibly generous capacity of 100 gigs.I indulged myself here and posted 3 photos.This gave me an added satisfaction of being in the group.

I imagine that these lists have great scope and potential uses.If,for instance you were planning a wedding,(God forbid) this would be a perfect way of keeping everyone informed.A school excursion,a surprise party.The scope is endless.You can even imagine a list being utilised in a bank heist.

So our little List lives on,and I can only imagine it getting stronger as we come back to it as tasks arise.A good group effort

Functioning and Housekeeping

When you receive an email you will decide whether or not you need to ,or wish to reply to the sender.You can forward the message to 1 or many other people.

By using the reply function in your email program you can write a message and send it off to the person who originally contacted you.If you choose to you can add make a carbon copy and either send it to a third person or if you wish you can send it to yourself.In computer speak this is called a CC.

You can also use the function called BCC,blind carbon copy.When you use this the various recipients of your message only see their own address and name.

It may be desirable to include all the names and addresses in some situations,but in others it could be inappropriate to do so.If your are sending out a social club newsletter,or an update on a family function,then it may be helpful for everyone to know who else is involved.

It would be a good idea to use BCC if your are sending out a resume to several different employers.It may suggest that you are taking a scatter gun approach to your job search,if other company names are on the email.

Attachments.

You can send a file as an attachment.I regularly send photos and videos to friends and family.Whenever possible try to find out what system the other people are using because sending the same things to everyone does not work and can be very frustrating.For instance I know that my friend in Germany has a high speed Internet connection and his PC will handle everything you throw at it.On the other hand,my friend just 4Ks down the road is on dial up,so sending him videos is a waste of his time.

Use RTF "rich text file" format when sending emails as this can be read by other computers.Keep in mind that the other persons knowledge may be very basic.Use courtesy and consideration,people tend to forgive technical mistakes but if you are downright obtuse you wont experience this technology at it's full potential.


Always be aware of the potential for viruses and other nasty things being propagated by email.I have an anti-virus program installed and running in real time as well as the programs that the email applications themselves use.I also run an ad ware and spy ware program at least twice a day.This not only keeps your own system clean but reduces the chances of you infecting anyone else.Good house keeping is very important on the net.

Filters.

You can choose to set your email program to accept anything and everything that shows up .The SPAM filters on most applications only do so much,so I choose to round things up before all the rubbish goes into my Inbox.Any email with the words "single,money,dating or romance" go straight to the spam bucket.I may look at the titles later on,but usually anything with these words are invariably scams.

Signatures.

You may choose to use a little text file as a signature to include on some or all of your emails.I use a more formal "moniker" when I am corresponding with my ISP for example than when I am emailing friends.Anyway Internode probably wouldn't know who Ratty is,but my friends know,it's just the old river rat, at it again.

What Is Meta Data?

Email Task

When you receive an email you can learn quite a lot from the "header".This contains the Meta Data which will give you the path it took to get from the sender to you.Since starting this Internet Communications course I have been taking notice of this data.It tells you which country it originated in,sometimes taking detours.Different email programs give you different amounts of this information.

You don't get a lot from looking at the Meta Data on a message in Gmail,but in Yahoo mail you get half a page of it.So far,for me at least this has mainly novelty value but no doubt it will lead to further questions and knowledge.At the very least it's handy to know if the person you are receiving emails from is really in the country they say they are.I believe that this is sometimes an issue with backpackers.

The screen shot here is the Meta Data from an email I received from a friend in Germany.Lots of detail.As to whether or not it is of much practical use is for me to find out.

Email...It Pays To know How It Works

The very first thing I did when I first went online was to learn how to send and receive email messages.Easy,set up an account and wait.Partly this was true.You would at least get a confirmation notice from the service that you were using,but not much else happened without a little input on your part.

So,checking out websites for different things I found that you could sign up for any old thing and they would happily add you to their mailing list.Within days I was swamped with offers of holidays,love,software downloads and if I just would enter my credit card number life was gonna be great from then on,and all at no risk to me whatsoever.

I was a newbie but I was not that green,so found that not everything that landed in the Inbox was to be taken at face value.I got a Gmail account for free and found that in the main,the Spam filter caught a lot of this rubbish,but not all of it.So inevitably the system I thought I was on top of wasn't working.I didn't know what was worth keeping and I deleted things I now wish I had kept.

By then I was communicating with friends,and receiving accounts by email and I got onto Yahoo Mail.This has a very easy way of keeping track of things by using folders.Some things I like to keep but maybe I don't want to read it right away.You can just leave it all in the inbox and it all just scrawls away and you can find it again but it takes time.Using folders it is all there in front of you.

To me,this "filing system"was great leap forward and it is something that I would recommend that everyone should try.When you can retrieve your emails easily, then you have control.I often don't know where my keys are but if you are looking for last November's ISP bill,then I'm your man.

Further Adventures in Chat Land

I wanted to really understand how chat works and so for the past week I have been online at different times of the day,and in different timezones as well.

The most amazing thing that I've found is that I am as shy online as I am in everyday life.Not overly sensitive mind you but I definetly tend to be self conscious.In my former life as a chef I merely assumed the personality of a self confident and assertive pro.I was comfortable with my level of knowledge and skill,and for the most part this worked.I even went to acting workshops and dressed in a different way.So,if you know the part and the lines and have the right props you can pull it off.I dont mean faking the work,you have to be good at what you do,but people treat you differently if they think you are a mouse;so let them think you are RAT,allbiet a nice one.

I chatted 1 on 1 with my friend in USA and was very comfortable with that as the lady knew that it was the virtually the first time I had used Yahoo instant mesagging.The only thing that rattled me was thinking how stilted and slow I was at typing,but after a little while the pace picked up and we tapped away for about an hour and it ended up a real conversation.Even used smileys and I can see the fun of them.This was at about 1am. my time and 9am. over there.The beauty of timezones.

Chatted on Yahoo with one of the other students and she also was generous with her time and patience and I had picked up a little speed and confidence by then.

mIRC is a very different creature to deal with.You are out there in the wilds on your own and if you want to talk to people you have to get smart real quick.I found the NET11 channel but due to the strange times I go on was unable to find anyone at home,but will keep on going there until I do.

I entered the AllNightCafe Channel (after a couple of tutoriols) and typed Hello>
Nothing happened for awhile and then a user called Bloodlust answered me.I said it was my first time and lucky for me he was a nice guy and we got talking.I told him that I was doing this chat as part of a course and he told me heaps about how to work it.As we chatted away other people entered the conversation and Bloodlust" knew" them and I got heaps of encouragement,and before I realized what was happening I was doing the group chat component of the module.

This chat with all these nice folks lasted for over 2 hours and I was reluctant to leave.Some said that they leave mIRC on their computers 24/7 so as to read through what has been said while they were away.Beyond the call of duty.

I asked about the list of Usernames that were all down the right hand margin of the screen.There must have been 12 or 15 but only about 6 of them were active in the conversation,what was the go?

"Most of them are wankers" was the reply from my new best mate Bloodlust.They just lurk over there listening in,not contributing in any way.Why would they do that? I had to ask".How the bloody hell would I know?" said Mr Blood?Why dont you ask them yourself.So I did.

Some of them were not present.These were names of people who left their PCs on at the cafe all day and caught up later.Others were indeed loitering in the shadows,waiting for the right time to throw in a smartass comment before bolting to the safety of another room.One of the wallflowers said they were waiting for something intelligent to be said before getting involved.Touche.

So it is like real life.Be nice and you'll be helped,if not Bloodlust may overcome you.

Five Tips For New Bloggers

1. Wait a little before you make this list,unless you're an experienced blogger because you have to learn about this from the inside.

2.Read lots of blogs,social,technical and news and analyze what you like about your favourites.Are there blogs you don't like?Think about why.

3.Choose carefully which "Brand" of blog you are going to use.I chose this due to my lack of expertise.There are better,but I got this up and running very easily.

4.Don't over use links and gadgets until you know how it will all fit together.Does it enhance your writing or detract from it?

5.Take care what you post as it is there on the Net for the whole world to see and might come back to bite you.But,be brave,be yourself.

Things Are Looking Up

I have been checking out the chat program mIRC and it is a distinct improvement on ICQ.

Downloading was easy and quick.The layout is tidy and I just have that "vibe" that this may be fun to learn.ICQs menu looked like a left over pizza.

This costs $20 if you want to keep it more than 30 days.Probably worth it,you can exchange files and chat in a lot of groups.I am so new to these chat and IM sites that it would probably take more than 30 days to get right into it.

One thing occurs to me though,when I was trying to find someone to chat to it was a bit like begging for coins at the railway station,I felt really exposed,you feel the shame but you gotta get home lol.

Apart from a 4 line conversation with my patient and long suffering friend in Minnesota this was my introduction to chat.But you have to start from somewhere.My nickname on mIRC is Riverrat,so if you are ever on there,say Hi.