Email considerations

General Discussion

The problem with this course is that it is so easy to get side-tracked - download Outlook and compare it with Thunderbird and Outlook Express, look for reference in Alertbox and end up reading other appealing titles, etc. I will try to write in heading and short sentences to maximize readability.

1. Immediacy of return of email

Most employees (and retirees) have tasks that required concentration when working on the computer. Work computers are often set to ring when an email arrives and work stops to check it. Neilson (2004) claims that:

"A one-minute interruption of your colleagues will cost them ten minutes of productivity as they re-establish their mental context and get back into "flow." Only the most important messages are worth 1,000 percent in overhead costs."

A more productive method would appear to be to check email in-boxes at regular intervals. Neilson recommends that you should "Establish a company culture in which it's okay not to respond to email immediately."

2. Saving and Back-up

I have sub-files in all other set-ups - don't know why I didn't think of this for email earlier. However, from hard experience, I have found that saving to a file and address book entries in an email program does not automatically mean it is saved in a back-up program. I will have to work out how to either set this up or simply save to "My Documents" regularly.

3. Attachments - coding and format

In helping fellow retirees with computer problems, one of the most common questions is "How do I open this attachment?" (followed by "How do I reduce the size of this photo?"). The suggestion to add a message at the end of an email that contains an attachment detailing the program used and the coding is useful. While the information may not always help the recipient directly it will save the time of the person called in to help. Adding a link to a program that changes the coding to a more readable form would help too.

4. Abbreviations and smilies

I am slowly learning what the more common versions of these mean. They are great to impart more feeling and personalisation to the message. However, I suggest that writers check the meaning (just as they check the spelling) before they send it. I still remember asking what her "lol" meant when replying to an msn. The sender had no idea.

5. Automatically adding emails to folders on receipt

I feel this is not a good idea - with the exception of junk mail. It is easy to miss a new entry in a file containing similar entries. It would be more efficient to read the in-box and file immediately to existing folders.

Again, from hard experience, junk mail folders can be trained (Thunderbird and Outlook) but need to be checked for automatically excluded important documents (results of an OUA exam for one). I remember listening to a tirade about email letters to her family not being delivered. The person concerned was continually telling very dubious jokes and managed to improve her hit rate considerably once she had junk mail filters explained.

6. Metadata

Surface data (titles) is obvious. I will have to investigate implied data. There are search functions in both Outlook and Thunderbird but I have not yet solved if you have to define metadata keywords and terms or if they are automatically included in the search. It will be interesting to see how efficient the programs are.

Answers to General Questions

1. All three programs listed the title, sender and subject. However, only Outlook enabled me to investigate the origin of the email (server) and path taken.

2. The 'cc' function allows me to send the same email to a number of people at one time. It particular it enables the coordination of groups and resources within an organization or a project.
The 'bcc' allows me to forward a copy of the mail to someone else without the original receiver being aware of it.
If a reply to an email originally envolved a group of people ("cc" or "bcc") 'Reply to all' simply allows me to send the same email to all the poeple involved in this original email. It can be very dangerous in that the total number of emails can escalate rapidly if used indiscriminantly.

3. See above.

4. This was interesting in that I had filters to exclude some unsolicited emails that had become a nuisance. I had to reinstall after a power wipe-out and have now found that this is one area that I had not backed up.

5. See above.

Neilson, J. (2004, January 4). Ten Steps for Cleaning Up Information Pollution. Retrieved March 29, 2009, from Alertbox: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040105.html