What a slacker I am at blogging. One of the hardest things I am finding with this unit is having to do things that hold very little interest for me.. like keeping a blog. The fact that I do some things on one computer and some on another doesn't help. Anyway, I'm finally here to enter some thoughts on the questions posed in the email task.
The information to be gleaned from an email, apart from the actual body of it, would include the subject heading and any priority placed on the message. The addresses of the sender and the account the email was sent to - business or personal? Is the message an original message or a forwarded message, if forwarded - where did it start, who else has seen the message?
When group emails are necessary, 'reply all' can be a useful function for all members to receive the same information. It can also be a real nuisance when people inadvertently select reply all when replying to an email that had many recipients, but was not group related. The 'cc' line allows a copy to be sent to another party without making them a prime recipient, but discloses to all recipients they have been sent a copy, 'bcc' on the other hand hides the fact others have been sent a copy. If an address is being used that someone prefers not to be made public, the 'bcc' function allows privacy and it can also allow for sending to a large group of people without the address field being enormous when the email is opened. There is also the 'sneaky' side of it, where the person the email is directed to is unaware of others receiving it as well.
Attachments are very commonly added to emails and there is nothing more frustrating than not being able to open one. Most things can be sent in a format that is fairly universal and can be opened without the need for a specific program or specific version as long as thought is given to this by the sender. Formats like .doc or .rtf for text are reasonably safe, as are .wav or .mp3 for sound. If unsure, ask what format is needed. If it's really important and unavoidable, disclose the program needed in the email and mention there was no alternative.
Here endeth the ravings this entry, next instalment: lists
