Week 1 - Task 1 - a & b

Email and Email Lists
Email is an electronic form of 'letter writing'. The messages sent are sent and received via computers. To access an email account, the user must have an internet connection. As soon as one sends a message it will almost automatically appear in the receiver's inbox. However, the recipant will not have read the message until he/she next signs in to their email account and is notified of the new message. Emails are much simpler than writing letters as there are no costs of paper, envelopes, stamps&postage, etc. They are also much quicker (providing the sender has relatively good keyboard typing skills!) and email accounts save all your addresses so you don't even have to write the name & address on the envelope.
I agree with Lister's evaluation of the email and the specific characteristics stated and how he describes it as having a sense of occasion. Case Study 1.2 states "the arrival of a letter in pre-industrial society was an 'occasion' replete with significance." (Lister et al.; 2003) I believe this to be more true of the older generations.
Email lists allow single email messages to be sent to a large number of recipants at the same time.This can be useful in an office for example, where one colleague can create an email list with all his colleagues email addresses and then when they want to distribute a message to everyone in the office they can just add this email list in the address section.

I use Hotmail for my email account, it was set up by a friend from holiday who I used to write to, but he was alredy connected on email and set me up which made communication much quicker, instant and easier. I like Hotmail as it is free and has large capacity to hold messages and allows access to MSN Messenger. I would mainly use email to communicate with tutors at University with ay queries I may have. I have 2 email accounts - 1 which I use for more important serious things, such as communication with tutors and then 1 which I use when I sign up for things so it mainly recieves a lot of junk and spam mail.



Usenet and Bulletin Board Systems
I have never heard of usenet before this task so to have a basic understanding of it I have had to research on the internet. Main websites I found about it were:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/what-is/part1/
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/what-is/part2/
http://www.usenet.org.uk/
http://tldp.org/LDP/nag/node257.html

I am still not entirely sure what this is like, so if I'm wrong, please feel free to reply and tell me so!!!
But from what I've read I believe it is basically like a discussion over the internet where people post and reply to eachother. I think to access Usenet certain software on the computer is necessary even though it itself is not software. I get the impression from reading about it on the web that it is a rather difficult thing to define and some even suggested it ws actually easier just to say what it isn't rather than to try describing what it is.

I have no personal experience of using Usenet and from reading othr people's blogs don't believe it is that popular, and certainly not between people of my age.


Bulletin boards is also a form of communication via the internet. They are mainly used to 'post' information about certain subjects where other users can read and reply to comments. It is a good way of sharing information via the internet, but without being as conversational (in a way?) and personal as something like MSN. The messages left on bulletin boards are public and some charge to become a user.

I have used bulletin boards a couple of times, mainly on the virtual campus where it is easy for tutors to post information about work to be done and any schedule changes etc.


IRL'S Chat Rooms, Messenger Services
Chat rooms are a rather instant way of talking to people via the internet. There are certain chat rooms for certain things but there are also more general 1s. Although tey are a great way to dicuss things, the safety of them has been questioned ans has featured heavily in the news for a number of years. Some of the stories featured include -
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11101454/
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1271057,00.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/726904.stm
These sorts of stories are problems in chat rooms as as Lister suggests that in virtual circumstances "there are opportunities for the user to adopt markers of identity." This is why parents get concerned as they do about the welfare of their children in these enviornments. There is a lotof software for parents to monitor what their kids do on the computer, I personally feel this is like a violation of trust and slightly stalker-ish! what's anyone else's thoughts on this??

I was never allowed to use chat rooms as a child. although I was curious about them so me&my friend did go on couple of times, but there was nothing of interest to us and now I would never have any desire to go on one.

Messenger services such as MSN Messenger allow users to add friends and contacts whose email addresses they know and users can conduct instant free conversations with eachother when connected to the internet. Users decide who they accept to speak tthem and who they can decline, so in that respect it's safer than a chat room as users are in control of who can see them, etc. And any file/photo/webcam sharing can only be activated if accepted by both users.

I always have my MSN signed in when my computer's on, it's great talking to friends at home and at uni without worrying about the costs of phone bills and text messages etc. I have had instances of people I don't know trying to add me, but it's just common sense to not accept people you don't know.


MUDS & MOO's
Again, I had never heard of MUD's or MOO's before this task and therefore have never used either.

Mud stands for multi user dungeon. Mud's are linked with online gaming and characters embark in roleplaying tasks by controling virtual characters. and communicate withother players via text on the internet. I found some info on:
http://www.mudconnect.com/mudfaq/mudfaq-p1.html

A Moo is Mud object orientated. So multiple people can connect in to a virtual world and join in games and connect with other players through text. I found this website:
http://www.moo.mud.org/moo-faq/
.....but it didn't really help much, just thought I'd include it incase anyone wanted a browse.


Websites
Websites include loadsa stuff, like text, information, videos and photos, there are often numerous pages where the user makes choices about where they go and what they choose to look like in the virtual world.
There can be websites set up to represent different businesses, people, celebrities, social networking and even just to give information about certain things.
Everything posted on the internet can be seen publicly by anyone who comes across it.

I have a number of websites that I would check everyday, such as Hotmail, Sky News, Facebook. But if ever I need any information about anything I will search for it on search engines such as Ask Jeeves or Google.