Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
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Figure.9 1
The Internet has changed the way people communicate by offering
technologies such as video chatting, email, and instant messaging.
Internet Communication Types
The Internet in its original form was for the transfer of data between
computers over a network. Email was one of the first Internet applica-
tions and is one of the most popular means of communication. Many
more ways of communicating online are now available, including:
◾
Instant messaging
◾
Social networking
◾
Blogs and microblogs
◾
Newsgroups
◾
Forums
◾
Voice over IP (VoIP)
◾
Video chat/videoconferencing
Many of these communication options require little more than a web
connection and a username and password for the particular service. This
chapter explains how some of these systems work and helps you choose
appropriate communications tools.
Email
Email
(short for electronic mail) is the computer equivalent of postal
mail. Billions of email messages are exchanged every day through a
worldwide system of email servers.
email
A computer-based system for exchanging
messages through mail servers.
Email is a
store-and-forward
system, as shown in Figure 9.2, not an
instant communication medium. When you compose and send an email,
your provider's outgoing
mail server
forwards it to the recipient's
incoming mail server. The message is stored there until the recipient logs
in and picks it up. Each ISP or organization that provides email service
has its own mail servers that participate in this global network for mail
delivery. To access your messages on your incoming mail server, you can
store-and-forward
A message delivery system
in which messages are forwarded between servers
and then stored on those servers until they are
picked up.
mail server
An online server that sends and/or
receives email messages on behalf of the email
addresses it supports.
