CM7-Internet activities – Advanced Email , Advanced search, Advanced services and uses

Jyoti: We have been assigned two tasks this semester.

  1. Communicating notices to our classmates using email. Explore Email application for the following:
  • Form a group and save email addresses of all the classmates in the group
  • Sending email using the group that we created.
  • Using a language other than English in the text of the email.
  • Checking for spelling mistakes automatically.
  • Showing our teacher log of the emails that were sent.
  • Are there any settings that we can use to simplify our task.
  1. Explore sharing text, audio and video files given by the teacher, on internet and email the website information to our classmates.

Moz: Let us first look at the features of the email.

Assignment 1 : Communicating notices to classmates using email.

Jyoti: Firstly we want to find a feature through which we can form a group and save email addresses of all the classmates in the group, so that we need not type in the email addresses everytime we have to send an email to the class.

Moz: In which option in the email application do you find email addresses that you saved?

Jyoti: “Contacts”. Logically this option should give us more options to manage email addresses.

Tejas (checks out Contacts option ): There are many options in contacts. We can form new groups and also list the groups that have been formed.

Moz: Do the following experiment to familiarize yourself with the option.

  • Create a new group.
  • Add to the group: new email addresses or select from the email addresses existing in the list.

Jyoti: Now we have to see how we can send email to the group. (Jyoti enters the group that was created in the “To” field and exclaims) Oh! The email addresses of the group are displayed automatically in the To field.

Note: A prompt of the group comes below the above. I could not capture it using screenshot. Please check this and provide the prompt too with the above screenshot.

Info: Managing Contacts

  • Grouping of email addresses can be done in many email applications. This option is usually available under the Contacts option.
  • By default, most used email addresses are sometimes grouped together under a “most contacted” group.
  • Contact addresses from other email service providers can also be imported. Each application has its own format in which the email addresses are exported and imported. Check for help of this option in the email application that you are using.
  • An option to Print email addresses is also provided under this option.

Moz: Where do you give an indication about the content of the email?

Tejas: In “Subject” we can give a brief title or a brief sentence that indicates what to expect in the email.

Moz: How do you share files using email?

Jyoti: We can attach files to an email. These can be text, audio, video.

Moz: Good. Find out different ways of sending email to multiple email addresses.

Tejas: We know that we can use “cc” to send a copy of the email to another email address, but what happens when we use “bcc”?

Moz: Send two emails

  1. By entering three of our email addresses in cc field.
  2. By entering our three addresses in bcc field.

Check the emails recieved by you. Check the details in the header (Header contains from whom the mail was sent, who else recieved the mail, time the mail was sent, recieved etc.)

Jyoti: In one of the emails I can see all the addresses in cc field. But in the second email I can see only my address.

Tejas: When our Hindi teacher asks us to send a notice we have to use Hindi language. There is an option where we can choose the language in which we want to compose the email. Look I select hindi, then I type “namaste Moz” in english and this comes up in hindi script. Let me enter “Aapka janmdin ki badhayi ho”. This is good. It also provides hindi letters for us to edit the hindi text.

Jyoti: Formatting and checking of spellings options are also available for the text in the email.

Usha: Checkspelling when clicked, the wrong spellings are highlighted. When we drag mouse on the word alternate spelling list is given. I could not capture these. Can you please see this sequence and provide the screen shots here. Thanks.

Tejas: We can even save a draft of our email and send it later. We can also discard the mail.

Moz: Good, step by step methods can be applied anywhere. You have done this in exploring the features of sending mail. Now, what else is required for your first task?

Info: Composing email

Sending mail to multiple email addresses:

If email addresses of the people to whom we are sending email are entered in:

  • cc : Each recipient of the email can view the email addresses of other recipients of the email.
  • Bcc: Each recipient of the email feels that the email has been sent to their account only. The other recipients email addresses are hidden.

Text in email

  • Multiple languages can be used for the text.
  • Transliteration is used to generate the script in another language.
  • Spelling check and formatting of the text is also available in many email applications.

Jyoti: We have to be sure that the mails have been recieved by our classmates. So we need to keep a log of what we have done.

Moz: Now explore the folders that are available and see their organization structure.

Jyoti: In Inbox we have the mails recieved, and in the sent mail folder the mails that we send.

Tejas: “sent mail” folder will be the log of our assignment. We can show this to our teacher.

Jyoti: I want to show only the mails sent to the group of classmates. Logically search option should provide this information. Let us see the advanced search options.

Tejas: Search has many options. We can search one folder or all the folders. Other options in “search” help us to show the specific logs to our teacher.

Moz: On internet whenever you see a search option, check out for the advanced search options. These help you to narrow down your search to the specific requirement.

Info: Search and advanced search

  • Search in an email application is used the same way you'd use a Search engine on the internet, by entering a word (or multiple words) that appears anywhere within the message you want to locate. The emails with the words will be displayed as a list.
  • Search in any application (example: search engines, email applications), provide advance search options.
  • Help for searching criteria in the email applications provides many more features that help to narrow down the search to the specific message that is required.

For example in gmail, by clicking Show search options next to the search box, an interface with various criteria is provided. By entering your criteria in the appropriate fields, the specific message that you are looking for will be provided.

Moz: Now explore some of the settings that can be done for the email application by the user. Check the language option and the signature option. Leave the others as default for now.

Info: Settings

  • Each email application provides it's own Settings options.
  • Use the Settings option to customize the settings to your requirements.
  • Options of, language in which to read mail, the language in which a mail can be sent, editing of text from left to right or right to left (example: Urdu, arabic, hebrew), folder organization, view formats, managing one's account like changing password can be setup to the user's choice and saved.
  • There is usually an option to revert back to the default option provided by the application. In case you do not want the changes you have done in the settings you can revert back to the original.
  • It is always a good idea to first note the default setting and then change one setting at a time and view it's effects.

Tejas: We can change our password using the accounts and import option.

Moz: Passwords are recommended to be changed once in a while. This is a good practice. What are the other precautions about password.

Jyoti: We should not share passwords with others.

Moz: You should also choose a password that others cannot guess. For example, do not use your birthday in your password. It can be guessed easily. One practice is to take a sentence and use the first letter of each word mixed with numbers significant to you.

Tejas: When we registered for the email account, for the password there are comments which tell us whether our password is strong or weak.

Moz: Right. A good mix of characters, numbers and special characters makes for a strong password.

Your password should be easy for you to remember without being obvious for someone else to guess.

Info: Password

  • Don't choose a dictionary word as your password.
  • Include a variety of characters, such as punctuation marks, numbers, and mix capital and lowercase letters.
  • Periodically change your password.

An example here: Jyoti's password is formed from the sentence ......

------advanced email ends next the second assignment details will start------

I have not yet done this. Once the above draft format is ok will do the this. Assignment 2: Sharing text, audio and video files given by the teacher on internet and email the website information to our classmates.

Activity 2: Finding information about file sharing on internet.

Information on advanced features of search, additional browser features, use google internet information gathering guidelines. Provide an initial mind map.

------

Usha can use the following for worksheets of email

Activity 1: Sharing files using email and exploring email application features.

Given: Three files are provided to the student. i) a document, ii) an audio file, iii) a video file.

Take action/Explore/experiment and answer

1. View the files. Share the files with atleast 5 friends using email by providing appropriate subject, and details of each file in the email. Use the Bcc option to send the emails. (Usha: a screen shot as an example).

Email and its content: (Sending)

  1. What is the subject of your email? Ask your friend if the subject matched with the email content and the files mailed.
  2. What is the email content? Ask one of your friends if they were eager to view the files based on the content of the email?
  3. What feature in email application did you use to include the files in the email?
  4. Two options are available to send a mail to a group of email addresses. i) cc and ii) Bcc. What is the difference between these two options?

Email and its content: (Recieving)

  1. You recieved a mail from an unknown person with some attachments. What will you do?
  1. You recieved an invitation mail with ten email addresses in cc. You want to thank the person who invited. Which of the options Reply or Reply to all, will you use? Why?
  2. You recieved a message from the teacher by email. The message has to be emailed to all your class mates. Which option can you use?

Folders:

  1. Check the sent mail folder. Do you find the mail that you sent in the list?
  2. What are the other folders? Explore them and write one line about each of these folders.

Search:

  1. Can you use search and find the mails recieved from one person?
  2. Find all the emails sent to one emailid?
  3. Can you use search to find mails related to a topic ? How ?

Settings

General

  1. Click on settings of the email application. Check for the option with which a mail can be viewed in a language other than English.
  2. Some language are written right to left. Is there a setting option that allows entering text from right to left?
  3. Check for the option that allows you to specify your signature whenever you send an email.

Account and import settings

  1. Password for your account should be changed once in a while. Check for this option in these settings.
  2. If you have account with another email service provider and want to get all the email addresses into another email account, the option is available in this option. Each email service provider has their own procedure to import the addresses. You have to find the information given in help of the email application that you are using. Explore this option.