THE CONCEPT OF EMAIL

THE CONCEPT OF EMAIL

Some people ask so many questions like what is this mail thing, is it important at all? How can I create email accounts or address? These questions would soon be answered as we go further into the topic.

The concept of email is the short form for the term electronic mail.  Email simply refers to a means whereby people are able to send, receive and store messages over an electronic medium. Email applies to electronic messages within an organization as well as those that go across organizations. Most people think that email came out of the internet but in actual fact, email existed before the advent of the internet. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) first introduced a variance of the present day email in 1961. Their technologies allowed people from remote sites to dial into a computer and hence were able to send messages to each other, once they had dialed in.

Today’s email system relies on a complex interconnection of networks and resources that allow emails to be delivered on time despite the seeming connection problems.

Some companies have their own email systems that are not necessarily on the Web. An example is the government of Ghana may create email systems tor their top officials and such email is not available to the general public. But most people have their emails on the Web. This type of web-based email system is always available on the internet and can be accessed provided there can is an internet connection. Many of such web-based email systems provide free of charge service making them very popular. Some of these service providers include Yahoo, Google and Microsoft.

What is a Webmail?

Software run by an ISP or online service that provides access to send, receive, and review e-mail using only your Web browser. Users can simply enter the Webmail Web site URL in their browser's address or location field, and use their Webmail account by typing in a username and password. Webmail provides an easy access and storage of e-mail messages for users who are not connected to the Internet from their usual location. Instead of the e-mail being downloaded to the computer you are checking your e-mail account from, the messages will stay on the provider's server, allowing you access to all e-mail messages regardless of what system or ISP you are connected to the Internet with.  Hotmail, Gmail, and Yahoo! mail are all examples of popular webmail providers. Additionally many ISPs offer webmail services to customers in addition to POP e-mail services.

Also called FlashMail.

The importance of email

Emails are so much important because;

·      they have enabled people to communicate much faster and effectively.

·       Emails are used to scheduled appointments, send out notice of meetings and get vital information. This is because emails are fast and fairly reliable.

·      Compared to snail mail (the post office system), emails provide faster and reliable medium of communication.

Creating email accounts

Creating email account is very easy and can be done in a matter of minutes. The choice of a service provider does not really matter since most of their services are the same. But for our purpose we’ll use the most common of these providers Yahoo and Gmail.

1.      Open the browser and type the web address into the address bar and press Enter keys.

2.     When the site opens click the mail link

3.     Click on the ‘sign up for yahoo’

4.     Fill in the details for the first part of the form (this requests for personal information). This information includes the following.

Assignment 1:

Create a unique email account do the following

1.     Provide the steps you followed to create your account

2.     State two reasons why you choose your email service provider over other providers

3.     Send an email to the following email account by 12am the following day.

Section one

First name: this is your Christian name or actual name such as Prosper or Wonder

Last name: this is your surname

Gender: select ‘’male or female”

Birthday: select the month, day and year born.

I live in: select your country (Ghana)

The second part of the form is where you select the Yahoo! ID you want and enter your own secret password. NOTE: Yahoo! ID is a person’s unique identifier.

This will be the beginning of the email address. Choose a name you like and type it in the space provided.  The provided suggestions that Yahoo! provides can also be chosen

Password is a secret code that is used to access emails. In choosing a password, one has to choose a code that is difficult to guess but easy for owner to remember.  It must be noted that using birthdays, initials, family names and the like are not advisable.

Section three is where some details that will help Yahoo! To recover email addresses when people forget their passwords.

Alternate email is entered if the user already has another email address.

Security question: select from a number of options the question which is most likely to remember the answer to. Click on the downward pointing arrow at the end to see the questions

Your answer: provide an answer to the selected question

The last part of the ‘’ create Account Page ‘’ are security measures that Yahoo! Takes to prevent automatic creation of accounts by viruses. Type the code shown in the space provided. Check the box to agree to Yahoo’s terms and conditions and click on the (create My Account) icon.

If all details are entered correctly, Yahoo will create an account for you and you will get the confirmation page.

Congratulations you now have your own email address!

Click on the continue button to take you to the home screen. From here you can always log into your Yahoo account. Avoid forgetting your Yahoo! ID or password. In creating an account, security of your ID and password are very important.

Trail questions

1.     What is the use of email?

2.     Explain with two major points how emails have made communication very easy.

3.     Explain the term password as used during the creation of email accounts

4.     What factors should one consider when creating a secured password. What advice would you give to computer users to avoid people easily guessing their passwords.

5.     What is the meaning of the term “username” as used during the creation of email accounts.

To create a Gmail address, you'll first need to create a Google account. Gmail will redirect you to the Google account signup page. You'll need to provide some basic information like your name, birth date, gender, and location. You will also need to choose a name for your new Gmail address. Once you create an account, you'll be able to start adding contacts and adjusting your mail settings.

To create an account:

1. Go to www.gmail.com.
2. Click Create account.
   
3. The signup form will appear. Follow the directions and enter the required information.
   
4. Review Google's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, click the check box, then click Next step.
   
5. Here, you'll have an opportunity to set up recovery options. Recovery options are helpful if you forget your password or if someone tries to access your account. If you don't want to set up recovery options at this time, click Done.
   
6. Your account will be created, and the Google welcome page will appear.
   

Just like with any online service, it's important to choose a strong password—in other words, one that is difficult for someone else to guess. For more information, check out our Creating Strong Passwords lesson.

Signing in to your account

When you first create your account, you will be automatically signed in. Most of the time, however, you'll need to sign in to your account and sign out when you're done with it. Signing out is especially important if you're using a shared computer (for example, at a library or office) because it prevents others from viewing your emails.

To sign in:

1. Go to www.gmail.com.
2. Type your user name (your email address) and password, then click Sign in.
   

To sign out:

In the top-right corner of the page, locate the circle that has your first initial (if you've already selected an avatar image, it will show the image instead). To sign out, click the circle and select Sign out.

Mail settings

Occasionally, you may want to make adjustments to Gmail's appearance or behavior. For example, you could create a signature or vacation reply, edit your labels, or change the theme. These adjustments can be made from your mail settings.

To access your mail settings:

1. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings.
   
2. From here, you can click any of the categories at the top to edit the desired settings.
   

Adding contacts

Like all major email providers, Gmail lets you keep an address book of contacts so you don't have to memorize everyone's email addresses. You can also add other contact information, like phone numbers, birthdays, and physical addresses.

To add a contact:

1. In the Gmail drop-down menu, select Contacts.
   
2. Your contacts screen will appear. Click Add new contact.
   
3. Type the person's name or email address. If they have a Google+ profile, it may appear below. Click Create to add the contact.
   
4. You can also type additional contact information if desired. All changes you make will be saved automatically.
   
   

To edit a contact:

1. In the Gmail drop-down menu, select Contacts.
   
2. Click the contact you want to edit.
   
3. You can now make any changes you want to the contact.
   

By default, when you send an email to a new address, Gmail adds the address to your contacts. You can then go to your contacts to edit the person's information as needed.

Importing mail and contacts

You may already have a contact list from another email address, and it would be a lot of work to re-enter all of this information manually. Gmail allows you to import your contacts from another email account, and you can even import all of your email messages from that account. Several email providers are supported, including Yahoo!, Hotmail, and AOL.

To add other accounts:

1. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings.
2. Go to Accounts and click Add a POP3 mail account you own. You can then follow the instructions on the screen to import your mail.
   

Challenge!

1. If you do not already have a Gmail account, create one.
2. Open Gmail.
3. Navigate to your Gmail settings.
4. Set your preferences in your Gmail settings.
5. Add a new contact. You can either add one you already know, or if you'd like you can create one with the following information:
   Name: Julia Fillory
   Email: jfillory@gmail.com

Get extra info on emails.
Learn more on how to create a gmail account