Which of the following is a message sent from one person to another using the internet?

I. What is Electronic Mail?

Electronic mail (e-mail) is a computer-based application for the exchange of messages between users. A worldwide e-mail network allows people to exchange e-mail messages very quickly. E-mail is the electronic equivalent of a letter, but with advantages in timeliness and flexibility. While a letter will take from one day to a couple of weeks to be delivered, an e-mail is delivered to the intended recipient's mailbox almost instantaneously, usually in the multiple-second to subminute range. This is the case whether the e-mail is exchanged between people on the same floor of a business, or between friends at opposite points on the globe. This article provides a comprehensive, intermediate-level overview of e-mail, including its main functions, historical and current architectures, key standards, supporting infrastructure, and contemporary and future issues.

III.B Organizational Contexts

Initially, the sheer efficiency of e-mail in organizations presented a compelling argument for its use. E-mail reduced the amount of time spent in attempts to contact colleagues through the telephone, a vast percentage of which (estimated at up to 70%) are unsuccessful. Furthermore, e-mail provided a systematic, reliable, and relatively inexpensive means for distributing information across numerous and diverse constituencies within organizations. The cost of transmitting information normally distributed in paper to multiple receivers was negligible and the ability to create, maintain, and update e-mail distribution lists was highly flexible.

However, e-mail quickly demonstrated some interesting additional social uses that further enhanced its attractiveness within organizational environments. Chief among these was the ability to find answers to organizational problems by using e-mail lists that made it relatively easy and convenient to transmit questions and consult those with whom one was not necessarily acquainted within the organizational community. Researchers have documented that electronic mail calls into existence and mobilizes a network of weak ties—distant and infrequently contacted others who possess potentially superior knowledge resources and who are frequently willing to provide information or advice as needed. A variety of factors motivate the helpful behavior of weak ties, including the ability to increase one's self-esteem, personal identification with the organization, and the organization's ability to foster a sense of employee citizenship and reciprocity.

Further, researchers have argued that the use of e-mail reduces certain costs of decision making incurred whenever organizations bring employees together for face-to-face group communication. Such costs occur due to inherent inefficiencies of group communication. For example, individuals are able to produce more good ideas working alone than they can in brainstorming groups simply due to the amount of time required to take turns and listen to the ideas of others. Individuals brainstorming through electronic mail or chat, on the other hand, may express themselves continuously, taking brief breaks to read the contributions of others.

Online interactions can produce written archives of discussion and their ongoing quality can help to maintain the momentum of the group over time. Online interaction also appears to stimulate a more equal distribution of talk, as group members are less likely to be inhibited by status, gender, and power cues that are prominent in face-to-face communication. Designers of software and hardware systems called group decision support systems have sought to capitalize on these advantages through the development of technologies that provide guided sequences of interaction aimed at producing high quality organizational decisions.

One of the first theories generated to account for how managers in organizations use electronic mail in organizations was the media richness theory. Developed as a more general theory of media use in organizations, media richness theory was adapted in the early 1980s to advance some claims about the potential role of electronic mail in organizational task accomplishment when compared to that of other organizational media choices. Essentially, the theory suggests that organizational tasks require different types of information, and organizational media are differentially useful in helping individuals to process these types of information. The theory makes some descriptive claims about how savvy managers actually select communication media for task accomplishment, which become the basis for normative claims about how managers should select communication media for task accomplishment.

More specifically, the theory posits that some organizational decisions can be made on the basis of lean information, or information that is relatively unambiguous and not subject to multiple interpretation; such information can be communicated through a small number of channels. However, other organizational decisions require information that is rich; that is, information that carries with it greater degrees of uncertainty, that is potentially equivocal or capable of being interpreted in potentially conflicting ways, and that requires substantial interpretation and feedback in order to be used wisely. Rich information requires interpretation at a number of levels and, beyond language, must be communicated through a number of channels.

According to the theory, organizational media are differentially suited to cope with the requirements of information categorized on a continuum from rich to lean. Four factors determine the richness or leanness of a medium. The first factor is the feedback capability of the medium, or the extent to which the medium makes it possible to ask questions or to make corrections as interpretations of information are advanced. A second factor is the availability of multiple cues, or the extent to which verbal information is supplemented by additional cues such as facial expressions, vocal inflection, gestures, graphics, physical presence, or even numbers. The third factor is the variety of the language that is being used. Information expressed in the form of numbers can be more precise; however, natural language enables users to communicate a far greater number of meanings and interpretive nuances. The final factor is the extent to which a medium makes it possible to include the personal focus of communicators, particularly the feelings and emotions of senders and receivers, as further cues about how to make sense out of equivocal or ambiguous information.

Although all media restrict the social presence of senders and receivers in particular ways, using these factors theorists have constructed a graded hierarchy describing the richness of particular media forms in organizations. Face-to-face communication, such as group or dyadic meetings, is seen as the richest medium because it allows for the greatest amount of feedback, the greatest diversity in nonverbal cues, the most language flexibility and variety, and the greatest possibilities for incorporating the personal focus of both senders and receivers. Face-to-face communication is followed by the telephone as the next richest medium, which is followed by electronic mail. Following e-mail in descending order of richness are personal written communication, such as letters and notes; formal written communication, such as memos, reports, and bulletins; and formal numeric communication, such as data in tables and management information systems.

In addition to claims about the level of information richness each medium is theoretically capable of conveying, media richness theory argues that managers need to assess the task at hand and make conscious and strategic decisions about their choice of medium, given the information required for the task. Using a medium that is capable of handling information richer than that required for the task is simply a waste of capacity and potentially a waste of resources. This is especially the case if meetings are involved since this is the most costly medium in terms of time and organizational resources. On the other hand, using a lean medium when rich information is required is a potentially dangerous failure to bring sufficient organizational resources to bear for successful decision making. The optimum outcome occurs when managers are able to accurately gauge the demands of the situation and mobilize organizational media resources accordingly.

The placement of e-mail on the media richness hierarchy suggested that, initially at least, researchers believed that the medium was useful only for routine information exchange, routine decision making, and personal idea generation. Although a limited amount of empirical support for the theory has accumulated, researchers have learned more about the nature of the medium of electronic mail since this theory was advanced and research begun. Critical to the placement of e-mail in the midpoint of the media richness hierarchy are a host of assumptions about the medium that have undergone significant scrutiny and revision over time.

As indicated by the second factor above, researchers believed that e-mail was a relatively cueless medium in that nonverbal behaviors typically used to supplement and clarify meanings as well as to evaluate communicators are absent. The cueless quality of e-mail meant that traditional indicators of an individual's social status such as gender, ethnicity, class, and age were generally unavailable or lacking prominence within the context of interaction. Although this characteristic has been seen as a problem with the medium, it has also been associated with certain positive outcomes for interaction. Principal among them has been a seemingly more egalitarian context for interaction, mentioned earlier, in which those who might have been more reticent contribute more or those whose contributions might have been discounted due to social status or power considerations are taken more seriously in group discussion.

However, the quality of cuelessness has been additionally associated with the observation that e-mail comprises an interactional context in which individuals become deindividuated, in much the same way that individuals acting anonymously in a crowd or mob lose sight of social convention and appropriateness, and acquire implicit license to commit acts for which they will not be accountable as individuals in the future. This particular quality has been implicated in explanations of episodes of relatively disinhibited or idiosyncratic, aberrant, or bizarre behavior in online social contexts, and, ultimately, flaming. The phenomenon of flaming is the most extreme outcome of deindividuated and disinhibited behavior. Although researchers dispute its precise definition, most agree that flaming is an e-mail phenomenon (although it can take place also in synchronous chat) and consists of insulting, aggressive, argumentative, and antagonistic messages sent to particular others or an entire interactional group. Flaming is unquestionably an expression of hostility and aggression, but flames can also possess an artful or creative dimension depending upon the interactant's ability and desire to write well.

IV.A. Group Communication

Electronic mail (e-mail), a system that allows users to send and receive messages through a computer network, is the most common groupware application and a central component of several other groupware tools based on a messaging system. Most e-mail systems include features for forwarding and attaching files to messages, providing delivery receipts, and creating mailing groups. Advanced e-mail systems include “rule” processors capable of automatically sorting and processing messages.

Mailing lists and newsgroups are similar to e-mail systems but are intended for the distribution of messages among large groups of users. While mailing lists deliver messages as they become available, newsgroups only deliver messages after receiving an explicit user request. Computer conferencing and electronic discussions are also similar to (and in most cases based on) e-mail, but messages are posted to a conference or discussion group, rather than to individual addressees.

III.C Discussion Lists

Electronic mail was one of the first services to emerge when developers began to assemble networks of computers. Since nearly every computer user learns to use e-mail, it became one of the first vehicles for group communication. On a discussion list, messages arrive in one's electronic mailbox, either individually or in a periodic digest. A user subscribes to a discussion list by sending a request to join the list. In the early days, a human kept track of the membership and maintained the list. Today there are robot list managers that automate subscription requests. Some discussion lists are moderated, meaning that a human screens all traffic and exercises editorial control over which messages are passed along.

There is increasing overlap between e-mail discussion lists and bulletin board forums. Some systems allow users to participate in the same discussion by either means. Many e-mail discussion lists maintain archives which can be accessed via the Web.

Using E-mail, Listservs, and Newsgroups

E-mail is an efficient communication tool and eliminates many of the difficulties associated with trying to reach people by telephone. E-mail can also be used to send the same message to a group of people on a list. A listserv is a server with a mailing list whose members are interested in the same topics. Professional, service, and educational organizations have listservs. The listserv is subject-interest or group-interest oriented. The University of Toronto's Assistive Technology Resource Centre's website has an excellent list of listservs related to assistive technology and rehabilitation. Newsgroups are bulletin boards to which e-mail can be sent and posted. Other Internet users can then go to the bulletin board to read the posted messages. These are being incorporated into many websites. People ask questions and then anyone visiting the website can make a comment or suggestion.

III.A.1. E-mail and Usenet

Electronic mail (e-mail) is and probably always will be the most common use of the Internet. It allows Internet users to send and receive messages from around the world. Requests for database searches and the result posted to an account can also be done by e-mail. E-mail is also used to join electronic mailing lists (called listservers) on specific topics of interest. E-mail is used to transfer text, program files, spreadsheets, and even photographic images. Messages can be sent and received in hours and often within minutes; it is no wonder that most e-mail users refer to the regular postal service as “snail mail.”

E-mail is based on the fundamental concept of store-and-forward technology. The store part refers to a message being added to a storage system by the message's originator. When the recipient is ready the message is forwarded for retrieval. The beauty of this technique is that the recipient does not have to be available when the originator sends the message. This enables the e-mail system to select how the message will move from the place where it is first stored to the place where it is retrieved (forwarded to the user).

It is becoming increasingly easy to find anyone on the Internet—even if one does not know his or her e-mail address. Internet addresses are in two parts, a “domain” name and a user name separated by a @ sign. The domain name (more correctly called a hierarchical name) consists of the name of the machine on which the user has an account, along with the network groups and subgroups leading to that computer, thereby giving that machine a unique identification, which enables the Internet software to determine where to deliver the message. Delivering the message to the addressee is then up to the named computer. The computer's name is chosen locally and is often colorful or thematic. User names can be cryptic. They are often composed of a first initial and last name but can be shortened to a nickname or identifying numbers. All Internet alphanumeric addresses are actually aliases for numeric addresses, such as 134.6.4.187. The alphanumeric addresses are used because, even though they can be hard to interpret, they are easier than the numeric names. Machines on the Internet called name servers handle the translation of alphanumeric names into numeric addresses. To get around the cumbersome Internet address of a person or persons, many mail programs enable users to create aliases. Aliases are particularly helpful when e-mail is sent to a group of people.

Because electronic mail is such an inexpensive form of communication and it is so easy to send copies of messages to long distribution lists, recipients may get much mail, which is of little or no value to them. As a result, new filtering software is being developed to help sort the wanted from the unwanted mail. Users can develop their own filtering rules (such as “if from boss, display immediately”) and can modify them at any time. Techniques such as assigning points to messages to indicate their importance is another variation of the same theme to make e-mail communications among groups more effective—to get relevant information to the recipients with less waste of time on the part of both senders and recipients.

II.C E-mail, Internet Relay Chat, and Instant Messaging

E-mail is asynchronous person-to-person computer-mediated communication; a sender transmits a message at one point in time to one or more receivers and the receiver downloads and reads the message at a later time when it is convenient. E-mail is the most popular Internet application because it is an inexpensive and efficient means for people to keep in touch with those whom they know and for contacting those whom they do not know. Individuals worldwide are increasingly using e-mail to supplement communication in other contexts. People who know each other use e-mail to fill gaps between face-to-face meetings, arrange for future meetings, and continue conversations started in other contexts, such as face-to-face or on the telephone. E-mail messages are text messages that can also contain attachments, which are attached files of graphics, spreadsheets, music, or text documents. Approximately 500 million e-mail messages are transmitted over the Internet daily. In contrast to e-mail, Internet relay chat (IRC) and instant messaging (IM) are synchronous person-to-person computer-mediated communication in which two or more people send and receive e-mail messages in real time.

Early Net applications

Studies have shown that the number one use of the Internet is for communication. Until the 1990s, communication as well as other computer network applications were text-based.

Electronic mail (e-mail) based on the protocol ‘user log-in name @ host computer name’ was first developed in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson of ARPAnet.11

Two other early network applications, Telnet and FTP, allowed more efficient communication and file-sharing. Telnet allows a strong, direct connection from a computer to a distant server. FTP (file transfer protocol) is a means to transfer files, particularly large files, in an efficient manner.12

Item A

E-mail message. At your request, an insurance company representative replies that she can meet with you at your convenience to explain why the corporate liability insurance premium will rise by 10% next year.

Item B

Telephone voice message. An accident on the premises between a truck and a forklift has resulted in two injured employees. The director of human resources wants to meet with you immediately.

Item C

E-mail message. As treasurer of a regional risk management association, you are assigned to arrange the next meeting, including location, meal, and speaker.

Item D

Your “to do list” states that you need to re-evaluate the risks facing the corporation and implement an improved risk management plan that maximizes risk management tools and is more financially sound.

Item E

Telephone call. A security officer on the premises calls and states: he cannot locate a security supervisor; there is a fire in the warehouse; he can extinguish it; and you do not have to call the fire department.

Item F

Telephone voice message. Your boss wants to meet with you immediately because insurance covered only 50% of losses from an accident at another corporate plant.

Item G

Telephone voice message. An attorney representing a plaintiff/employee in a sexual harassment suit against the corporation wants to speak with you.

Item H

Telephone voice message. The emergency management director for the local county wants to meet with you about cooperation on joint planning and training.

Item I

E-mail message. The information technology (IT) director needs to meet with you as soon as possible. The corporate IT business continuity plan was rejected by one of the insurers of the corporation.

III.C. Confidentiality

E-mails leave copies of themselves in almost all servers through which they pass. In this respect e-mail is less of a sealed letter than a postcard copied at each post office through which it passes. Although the regulations and guidelines included above require attention to confidentiality, they should be understood as raising the bar of difficulty of access to content. It is reasonable to assume that a highly motivated, intelligent person with enough time and other resources can eventually access all files. Thus confidentiality is likely to be sacrificed to the determined hacker.