Communication Methods : Email

Electronic Mail (email) is a system which allows users of a computer network to send messages to each other. Users can usually :

Each user has to have his or her own address that other users need to know to send messages to him or her. An example address is :

mark@mwchemicals.co.uk

An email system can transmit other types of information as well as simple text. Pictures, music, videos, in fact almost any sort of information that you can think of can also be sent. This is achieved by attaching files created in another package such as a word processor or drawing program to the end of an email message. These files are known as attachments.

An electronic mail system can be private and only operate within a particular company on the company's own WAN. However most email is now sent via the Internet so that any Internet user can send and receive email. In the year 2000 approximately one quarter of the UK population could send and receive emails. In poorer countries the proportion of people with access to email is much lower.

The cost of sending an email is very low. It is much cheaper to communicate by email than by post, fax or telephone. This is especially true if the person you are communicating with lives a long way away.

Advantages
  1. Any sort of information (e.g. text, video) can be sent by email.
  2. Information sent by email arrives very quickly, typically within a few minutes of being sent.
  3. Emails can be sent very cheaply around the world.
  4. A received email document is identical to the sent doument. Unlike fax transmissions there is no decrease in quality.
  5. There is a permanent record of any communication by email.
Disadvantages
  1. Not many people have access to email. In the UK about one quarter of the population can send and receive email.
  2. Parcels can not be sent by email.
  3. It can be difficult to check who has sent you an email.

GCSE ICT Companion 04 - (C) P Meakin 2004