Several optional features of E-mail are

Videotext is similar to Teletext in that it provides electronic reference to material but there are two main differences.

Firstly it is available to subscribers only.

Secondly it provides two-way communication. This means that users can interrogate the data held in the system and also supply information to it. The system uses a combination of telephones, computers, television, and communication networks.

e. Electronic Mail:

E-mail is the process of sending messages directly from one computer to another. In this system the sender transmits the message over the telephone network to a central computer, which allocates disk storage to act as an electronic mail box for each user. Using a password for secret purposes the user then can collect the message when required.

If you want everyone in the firm with a terminal to read the message, it is placed on an electronic bulletin board, which everyone can access.

If you want to receive confirmation when the recipient retrieves your message, it can be sent as registered mail.

If you do not want the recipient to route the messages to others in the network, you can send it as private mail.

Advantages:

Speed: (electronic transmission is almost instantaneous)

Economy: (no speed for stamp, labor, paper)

Efficiency: (a message is prepared once but can be sent to thousands at the touch of a button)

Security: (access can be restricted by the use of password)

Document can be retrieved and stored to word processing and graphic packages.

Electronic delivery and receipt can be requested.

Manners For E-Mailers

Never forget you are dealing with real people, even if you cannot see them, so do as you would be done by. Do not forward inappropriate comments on the relationships of strangers. Would you want the world to read about your own? Like a letter, an e-mail benefits from an opening greeting and a sincerely-type sign off. You will be judged on"'-how you express yourself. When first making contact, formally is the safe option. It is wrong to break the law just because you can get away with it online. Copying music, programs and images without permission is theft. Fill in an e-mail's subject box, anyone dealing with a large volume of e-mail will be grateful to be able to assess it at a glance and find it again in a hurry. Ask before sending large attachments such as picture files or video clips, They take a long time to download and, if they exceed the inbox limit, can stop the recipient receiving mail. Avoid clever formatting. Bold, centered text might look impressive on your screen, but 9 times out of 10 it will be vague by the recipient's program. Beware of sending e-mail to big groups listed on incoming messages: do you really want to Reply To All? Does everyone you know (and some people you do not) really want to read every joke you receive? Forwarding chain e-mails and fake virus warnings will not win you friends. Stay cool. Everyone benefits from good manners. If someone forwards a virus, point out the error of their ways but do not Reply To All. If some aspect of computing confuses you, the chances are you can find the answer in one of the web's lists of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). It Is rude to waste a helpdesk's time simply because you cannot be bothered to deploy a search engineer read. the manual.

Disadvantages:

The necessity for users to have a terminal close at hand, otherwise messages can't be received or sent.

Electronic mail handles only one-way communication. However, if you desire two-way conversation, you must either send multiple e-mail messages back and forth or use another medium.

The limitation of only being able to communicate with registered users, but not with other parties.

f. Voice Mail:

A voice mail system enables a regular voice message, sent over the phone, to be digitally stored at the receiving location. When accessed, the message is converted back into voice form. These are used by an increasing number of organizations and often employ software that runs on the organization's private box exchange (PBX) equipment, rather than on the organization's host computers.

Voice mail systems require a computer, disk storage, and voice mailboxes that are similar to E-mailboxes. However, the sending and receiving instrument is the telephone. Like E-mail messages, digitized voice messages can be played back, sent along to one or more other members of the organization, saved, or deleted. As it is sent along from person to person, a message can usually be; voice-annotated by anyone handling it.

With voice mail, one person calls a voice mailbox rather than a personal phone number. In stand-alone voice systems, the message is simply stored, awaiting pick-up by the person receiving the message; in integrated voice mail/PBX, the message receiver has the option of picking up the phone. People can usually access their voice mailboxes from any telephone (both inside and outside the organization). The telephone keypad is used to listen to messages in the mailbox, save them, delete them, or send them to others. This permits field representatives or traveling executives to maintain contact with the home office and to keep up with their messages. Salespeople can use these systems to enter orders over the telephone from the customer's office. Some universities are using voice mail systems to enable students to register for classes. All of these applications can provide organizations with a competitive edge.

Is voice mail just a fancy answering machine? They serve similar purposes, but do not use the same storage techniques. A voice mail system translates the word of message into digital impulses, which it then stores on disk, just as any other data.

g. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI):

Paper handling is the bane of organizations. Paper must be transmitted, filed, and stored. It takes up much of people's time and requires the felling of considerable number of trees. Is there a way to accomplish the same business tasks without using the paper?

One answer lies in business-to-business transactions conducted via computer network. Electronic data interchange (EDI) is direct electronic exchange between organization's computer systems of standard business documents such as invoices, purchase orders.

Businesses use a great deal of paper in transmitting orders. One method devised to cut down on paperwork is electronic data interchange (EDI). EDI is a series of standard formats that allow businesses to transmit invoices, purchase orders, etc. electronically. In addition to eliminating paper-based ordering forms, EDI can help to eliminate errors in transmitting orders that result from transcription mistakes made by people. Since EDI orders go directly from one computer to another, the tedious process of filling out a form at one end and then keying it into the computer at the other end is eliminated.

Many firms use EDI to reduce paperwork and personnel costs. Some large firms, especially discounters, require their suppliers to adopt EDI and, in fact, have direct computer hookups with their suppliers.

h. Electronic Fund Transfers: Instant Banking:

Using electronic fund transfers (EFT), people can pay for goods and services by having funds transferred from various accounts electronically, using computer technology. One of the most visible demonstrations of EFT is the ATM, the automated teller machine that people use to obtain cash quickly. For example, make payments to a supplier, or pay salaries into employees' bank accounts, or transfer funds from one bank account to another account by sending electronic data to his bank.

Electronic funds transfers are not limited to transfers between institutions and individuals. Banks and other financial institutions transfer funds among themselves electronically, on both the national and international level.

i. Bulletin Boards:

Person-to-person data communication is one of the more exciting ways of using your personal computer. A bulletin board system (BBS) uses data communications systems to link personal computers to provide public-access-message systems. Most bulletin boards are formed to benefit people in a club or with a common hobby; others are linked to a particular business. Electronic bulletin boards are similar to the bulletin boards you see in student lounges. Somebody leaves a message, but the person who picks it up does not have to know the person who left it. To get access to someone else's computer, all you really have to know is that computer's bulletin board phone number. You can use any kind of computer, but you need a modem so you can communicate over the phone lines.

Anyone who has a personal computer can set up a bulletin board. It takes a computer, a phone line, a modem, and particular software. You just tell a few people about your board, start up your computer using the BBS software, and sit back and watch the messages start scrolling down your screen. But note that your computer must be left on to receive the calls.

3. Teleconferencing Systems:

The term teleconferencing refers to electronic meetings that involve people who are at physically different sites. Telecommunication technology systems allow meeting participants to interact with one another without traveling to the same location. The major types of teleconferencing exist:

a. Audio conferencing

b. Video conferencing

c. Computer conferencing

d. Telecommuting

a. Audio Teleconferencing:

Audio teleconferencing (conference phone calls) enables participants to hear each other only. A speakerphone may be used at one or more locations to allow groups to participate in the meeting. Audio teleconferencing is by far the least expensive.

b. Video Conferencing:

Want to have a meeting with someone across the country.and go over some documents, without having to go there? Videoconferencing is a method whereby people in different geographical locations can have a meeting, and see and hear one another, using computers and communications.

Videoconferencing systems range from small videophones to group conference rooms with cameras and multimedia equipment. The system combines voice and television images that allow two or more groups to interact with one another. Video teleconferencing was first widely demonstrated in 1964 at New York's World Fair when AT&T introduced its picture-phone.

Generally, video teleconferencing participants gather in relatively expensive, specially equipped rooms that can handle the complexities of simultaneous video and audio transmission. In business applications, video teleconferencing can be particularly effective because interaction between people is usually different when they can see each other.

c. Computer Conferencing:

Computer conferencing involves computer terminals and E-mail or electronic Bulletin boards. Conference participants broadcast messages to each other (or post them on a common electronic bulletin board); participants do not have to be present to receive messages. The messages are keyed in and then displayed on computer screens; hence, the "conversations" that take place are electronic. Computer conferencing is a method of sending, receiving, and storing typed messages within a network of users.

Computer conferencing can be particularly useful in project management. As critical pieces of a project are finished, possibly at numerous geographically dispersed sites, this information is recorded in the public electronic mailboxes of each project manager so that he has a real-time update on both costs and progress. The project managers can also communicate with each other through the mailboxes regarding any unusual events or any other important matters.

d. Telecommuting:

Improvements in data communications, increased power of PCs and changes in working practices are leading to the spread of telecommuting. This allows employees to work at home using computer equipment, which is linked via the public communications network to computers in head office.

Telecommuting is beneficial to both employers and to their employees. Office accommodation costs are reduced, physical commuting is reduced to a minimum, and employees are not forced to live near their offices.

Telecommuting
Advantages	Disadvantages
To Employer: Less office space and furniture needed Gives access to employees who may find conventional or full time employment difficult.	Difficulty in controlling employees and ensuring they are working Data and confidential Information will be less secure Higher communication costs Lack of company culture- and values
To Employees: Less time and expense traveling to and from work More flexibility Fewer interruptions than at the office (depends on home environment)	Space taken up at home with office equipment Lack of social rewards from being, part of an office No definite distinction between office and home can lead to longer working hours More Interruptions than at the office (depends on home environment)

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11