Reference sheet prepared by Jolene M. Morris, District Technology Director, Grand Co. School District
Electronic Mail
When your computer is on a network, you have access to e-mail (electronic mail) which allows you to send messages to other users on the network. There are times when you'll still want to use the telephone. And there are times when you'll still want to walk down the hall to talk to your colleague.
But e-mail is valuable in many settings -- especially in education. E-mail is used to remind people of meetings. Teachers can share lesson plans and teaching strategies with other teachers around the world..
There are many e-mail packages with differing features. Common e-mail packages used on the Internet are Pegasus, Pine, Elm, and Mime. The e-mail package we are using in Utah schools is Pegasus mail. With your mail package and the Internet, you can send e-mail to anyone in the world.
You can attach documents and pictures to an e-mail message. Thus, you can send an e-mail message to NASA asking for a satellite photo of Lake Powell. That message takes only a couple of seconds to get to NASA. Depending upon the speed of the human who receives it, you could have your photo of Lake Powell within ten seconds.
Notify beeps?
When you send e-mail, it takes only a second or two for the message to reach the receiver's computer. When it arrives, the receiver's computer will beep and will "freeze up" until the receiver presses CTRL-ENTER to acknowledge the mail. If the receiver's computer is not on, e-mail will cause the computer to beep the next time it is turned on.
Other uses for e-mail
Sophisticated e-mail packages, such as WordPerfect Office also help you with scheduling resources and scheduling your time. The person at your school who checks out A-V equipment can put a list of all available equipment on a scheduling list. Then teachers can send e-mail to automatically reserve a piece of equipment. Unfortunately, the A-V person still has to deliver the equipment personally.
WordPerfect Office has an extensive calendar system that could be used instead of a daily planner. It keeps track of your appointments, your daily task list, and your on-going projects. You can set an alarm so you computer can remind you when it's time to go to a meeting.
How do I send a message?
We use Pegasus mail in Utah schools so
you should learn how to send a message with
that. Until your network is connected to other
schools and to the WAN (wide-area network),
you can only send messages to others in your
building. There are four 
easy steps to
read/send an e-mail message using Pegasus:
1. Launch Pegasus mail from your menu. Pegasus has a menu with letters in front of each menu item.
2. Press the letter-N or the letter-B to read main (N=new mail and B=browse previous mail).
3. Press the letter-S to send mail. Enter the Internet address of the person you are writing to. Enter a subject. Type your message. Press CTRL-ENTER to send your message.
4. Quit Pegasus by pressing the letter-Q.
E-mail etiquette
There are several understood "rules" for using e-mail. Most of the rules are just good common sense:
1. Do not flood the network lines with meaningless messages. Send only important e-mail.
2. No e-mail is entirely private so watch what you say -- a sysop can read any e-mail on the system.
3. DO NOT TYPE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. Capital letters are considered SHOUTING and should be used sparingly.
4. Read your e-mail quickly. Check for e-mail often. Reply to e-mail as soon as possible. Delete outdated messages.
5. While spelling and grammar are important,
e-mail is informal and errors should be overlooked.
Acronyms
Acronyms distinguish e-mail from other forms of correspondence -- with
e-mail, it's all right to abbreviate. Here are a few of the more popular ones:
BTW -- By the way
F2F -- Face to face
IMHO -- In my humble opinion
IOW -- In other words
TIA -- Thanks in advance
BRB -- Be right back
WTG -- Way to go
LOL -- Laughing out loud
SO -- Significant other
TTFN -- Ta Ta for now (goodbye)
RTFM -- Read the manual
Emoticons
When you send an e-mail message, you can use little icons (pictures) to express emotions that you would otherwise express by facial expression or vocal intonations.. These icons are called emoticons and are viewed at a 90-degree angle. They are also called smileys. Here are some popular emoticons:
:-) Happy
:-( Sad
:-0 Shocked or amazed
;-) Winking
:-* Kiss
