Simple Introduction to Electronic Mail


What  is Electronic Mail?

Electronic mail (email) is a way for people to send and receive computer files through the 
international computer networks.  Anything that can be placed in a computer file can be 
transferred through electronic mail.


What do I need for Electronic Mail?

In order to send and receive electronic mail you need two things: (1) an electronic mail 
account with some service provider, and (2) an electronic mail client program.  Penn 
State faculty, students and staff may receive free electronic mail accounts as part of the 
Penn State Access System.  Electronic mail client programs are available for use with the 
Access System for the Apple Macintosh and IBM computers under Wondows or DOS.

Those with accounts on University mainframes or workstations will also have electronic 
mail access and clients as part of their account.

One of the keys to effectively using electronic mail is to become proficient in the use of 
your electronic mail client program.


What is my Electronic Mail Address?

When you get an electronic mail account you will also get an electronic mail address.  
This address identifies you from the millions of other electronic mail users worldwide.  
An example electronic mail address might be fred@psu.edu   or   
sally@orville.cac.psu.edu.

If you have more than one electronic mail address please understand that these are two 
different addresses.  It may be possible for you to route electronic mail from one address 
to the other -- or you may wish to keep them separate and use them for different purposes.


How do I find a persons Electronic Mail Address?

There is no simple way to do this, however there are a number of strategies that might 
work.  In general the best way to find a person's electronic mail address is to call and ask 
them.  Remember that a person may have more than one electronic mail address and may 
not use all of them.  Also remember that not everyone checks their electronic mail 
regularly -- so if you send mail to someone they may not know it has arrived and so may 
not receive it.

The documents EMAIL.ADDRESS and EMAIL.ADDRESS2 on the Internet 
Information Disk  (in ftp.cac.psu.edu in directory /pub/internexus) contains a list of ways 
to find someones electronic mail address.


Further Information on Electronic Mail

The following files on the Internet Information Disk will be of use to persons exploring 
electronic mail:

COUNTRY.CODES      T Listing of Internet country domain codes based on ISO 
standard 3166 names.  Compiled by Oliver M.J. Crepin-Leblond.
EMAIL.ACCESS          T Information on personal access to Internet electronic mail.
EMAIL.ADDRESS      T File containing information regarding how to find email 
addresses for faculty, staff and students at universities around the 
world.
EMAIL.ADDRESS2     T Another file with info regarding how to find email addresses 
for faculty, staff and students at universities around the world.
EMAIL.ETIQUETT     T Document "A Guide to Electronic Communication & 
Network Etiquette".  Revised and submitted by Joan Gargano, 
edited by Ivars Balkits.
EMAIL2.ETIQUETT    T Document "The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette" by 
Arlene H. Rinaldi, Florida State University.
EMAIL.PRIMER          T Primer on electrionic mail
EMAIL.TENCOMM     T Ten commandments for electronic mail
FIDONET.INFO            T Contains information about the Internet/Fidonet email 
gateway.
NETMAIL.GUIDE      T Document "Inter-Network Mail Guide", by John J. Chew. This 
is a document that shows how to send electronic mail from one 
network to another.  For example, how to send email from Bitnet 
to Internet and vice-versa.
NETWORKG.NETWORK   T Document: "NETWORKING ON THE NETWORK" by 
Phil Agre.  About meeting people and developing profesional 
contacts through CMC
PHHELP MEMO         T A copy of the help file for the CAC PH server
WHITE.HOUSE          T Information on electronic access to people and information 
from the U.S. Government executive branch.