Module 1

Introduction
The Internet provides many effective communication tools, including email, mailing lists,
discussion groups, chat services, web conferencing, blogs, and RSS feeds. In recent
years, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have also joined the mix.
These various tools allow you to communicate one-to-one or one-to-many, depending
on your communication needs. They also enable communication locally between people
who know one another or worldwide with people who share common interests. Module
1 explores these online communication tools.

Email and Mailing Lists

Email
Email is one of the most popular Internet services. Email allows you to send messages
to one person or simultaneously to a group of people. Email is convenient and
widespread. It offers 24/7 availability and most people have at least one email address.
Another advantage of an email account is that if your email provider offers webmail, it is
accessible from any location that has Internet access. Don’t confuse email with course
“mail” or messaging options often available in online course environments. They are not
always the same thing.

In order to send email, you must know the recipient's email address. Email addresses
consist of two parts: a username and a domain name. The username refers to the
mailbox name, logon name, or user ID. The domain name is the Internet address of the
computer where the user's email is stored (also called the mail server). The parts are
separated by an @ symbol. For example, the email address for the President of the
United States is [email protected].
There is no worldwide Internet directory of email addresses. However, there are several
services, such as Spokeo that allow you to search for friends and relatives, as well as
businesses and government officials. It is important to note, not all email search
services are free.
Since there are many email programs and services available (e.g., Outlook, Gmail,
Yahoo! Mail), instructions on using individual email programs will not be covered in this
course. Generally, the following commands can be found in any email program or
service:
■ compose: create a message
■ send: send the message you created
■ reply: respond to a message you received
■ reply all: respond to everyone who was copied on the message you
received.
■ forward: send a copy of the message you received to another
person
■ attach: attaches a document to the email message, either as text at
the end of the message or as a separate file

Most email programs have an address book where addresses are stored along with a
nickname. The nickname may be used in the To: field instead of typing the entire email
address.
There are many free web-based email providers on the Internet, including Gmail,
Outlook, and Yahoo! Mail. Free email services often put limits on storage space for
messages, and some limit the size of messages and attachments.

Mailing Lists
Mailing lists (also called LISTSERVs) distribute information to an email subscription list.
Many companies, professional organizations, recreational groups, and clubs rely on
mailing lists to distribute their information. Postings, in the form of email messages, are
automatically delivered to your email. You can simply read the contents of the
messages, ask a question, give your opinion, or participate in an ongoing discussion.
Mailing lists can involve just a few people or tens of thousands. There are thousands of
mailing lists covering almost any conceivable topic.
Subscribing to a mailing list involves sending a message to the list’s administrator.
Usually, as shown in the image below, you will need to include the word “subscribe” in
the body of your message. For some lists, your subscription will begin immediately, but
for others, you might have to wait for your subscription request to be approved by the
list’s administrator or moderator. Once your subscription becomes active, you will
receive a welcome/confirmation message, which you should save, since it will contain
information on how to unsubscribe. The confirmation message will also provide the list
name/posting address for the list.
There are many different types of LISTSERVs to which you can subscribe. There are
professional LISTSERVs, which sometimes include job boards or notices. Other
LISTSERVs are for news and different hobbies. Not all fields/communities use
LISTSERVs as they are a little more dated use of communication.

To find mailing lists, try Catalist, a directory of mailing lists and newsletters on a wide
range of topics.
Discussion Groups and Social Networking
Discussion Groups
Sites such as Yahoo! and Google allow users to create and join online discussion
groups. Discussion groups are also referred to as forums or bulletin boards. These
function very much like mailing lists, except they are easier to create and maintain. They
are also less invasive than mailing lists since you go to a website to view and post
messages. This reduces the strain on your email inbox. Discussion groups work very
well for communication among local interest groups and clubs. You may have already
encountered a discussion group in this class! To start looking for other discussion
groups, try Yahoo! Groups or Google Groups.

Within a discussion group, a discussion on a particular topic is often called a “thread.”

The following image is part of a list of discussion threads from the Apple Support
website:

Clicking on the third thread, for example, would enable you to read the entire discussion
on the topic of syncing an iPod classic to a MacBook Pro (see image below). You could
also, if you wished, participate in the discussion by adding comments of your own. Many
discussion groups require you to create an account and login in order to participate in a
discussion and/or start a new thread.
Social Networking
As computers have advanced and broadband has expanded, new social networking
sites have developed on the Internet. Social networking sites allow users to share files,
pictures, and music, communicate by email or instant message within the site, and
develop networks of friends or associates. Popular social networking sites include
Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Increasingly, large corporations
have become more attracted to social networking sites because of advertising revenue
and the ease of marketing products and services.

The following descriptions of popular social networks were adapted from

Wikipedia, Webopedia, and Mashable:

Facebook, the world’s largest social network, provides a place for social connection via
the sharing of photos, videos, and text updates. Users create personal profiles and
establish relationships with other people and companies. Facebook was founded in
2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and his roommates at Harvard University. The site’s
membership was initially limited to Harvard students, but was expanded to other
colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It gradually added
support for students at various other universities before opening to high school
students, and eventually to anyone over the age of 13. In April 2007, Facebook was the
primary vehicle for student communication during the Virginia Tech shooting tragedy.
The name of the service comes from paper “facebooks” that used to be distributed at
some universities at the start of the academic year to help students get to know each
other.

Twitter, which launched in 2006, is a “microblogging” platform that allows users to

communicate through brief messages (known as “tweets”), which are limited to 140
characters. The original idea behind Twitter was for users to post messages in response
to the question, “What are you doing?” The prompt has since been changed to the more
generic “What’s happening?”, but users can post anything that’s on their minds, and
often use Twitter as a way to share links to websites, photos, videos, and other web-
based content. Users subscribe to (or “follow”) tweets posted by others with similar
interests, and can, if desired, send and receive tweets through SMS text messaging.
Because of the immediacy and brevity of Twitter, it has helped to shape events
pertaining to social movements such as Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring. In
2010, the Library of Congress announced its plan to create a digital archive of every
tweet ever posted.

Twitter employs a convention called a “hashtag,” which is a word or phrase immediately

preceded by a # symbol. By placing a # symbol in front of a word in a tweet, the word is
automatically turned into a hotlink which, when clicked, will perform a search of recent
tweets containing that word. The ability to group together tweets containing a particular
word or phrase has contributed to a phenomenon known as the “Internet meme". A
meme can be a word, phrase, idea, image, video, or anything that spreads very rapidly
via Twitter or any other means of Internet communication. Since memes spread across
the Internet in much the same way that diseases spread through a population, a meme
is sometimes referred to as “viral” if it reaches an unusually large number of Internet
users. One example of a famous Internet meme is LOLCats, humorous images of cats
with semi-literate captions. A more recent example is Doge, which are images of a
Shiba Inu with comic sans writing added, like the image below.

When a large number of people include the same word or hashtag in their tweets within
a short period of time, the topic they’re tweeting about begins to “trend.” When pop star
Michael Jackson passed away, for example, his name became a “trending topic” on
Twitter. Trending topics usually pertain to current news events and come and go very
quickly, while memes can remain popular for long periods of time. KnowYourMeme is a
website that documents popular memes, viral videos, and other online phenomena.

Google+ (Google Plus) was launched by Google in 2011 as an attempt to compete with
Facebook. Features of Google+ include “Circles” for sharing information with different
groups of people (like Facebook Groups) and “Hangouts” for video chatting with a friend
or groups of friends. Google Hangouts merged with Google’s Talk program, Google+
Messenger, and Hangouts, which was way to video chat using Google+. This created a
single location for all text, video, and image sharing between friends.
Tumblr, which launched in 2007, is a “microblogging” platform that gives users a quick
way to post text, images, audio, video, links, and quotes in a community setting. Unlike
regular blogs, Tumblr blogs (also called “Tumblogs” or “Tumblelogs”) are frequently
used to share the author’s creations, discoveries, or experiences while providing little or
no commentary. Some have described Tumblr as a kind of online scrapbooking tool that
allows users to curate web-based content they find interesting. Taking on the features of
other social networking sites (most notably Twitter), Tumblr allows users with similar
interests to “follow” each other, and offers the option of “liking” or “reblogging” other blog
posts. David Karp, founder of Tumblr, explains what makes this platform different on
CNN. You can watch the video here.

Foursquare is a location-based mobile application that combines aspects of social

networking and gaming. Users “check in” at a venue (such as a store, restaurant,
library, etc.) and can connect with friends in nearby locations. Users are encouraged to
be hyper-local and hyper-specific with their check-ins – one can check into a certain
floor/area of a building, make recommendations, or indicate a specific activity while at a
venue. Users can choose to have their check-ins posted on their accounts on Twitter,
Facebook, or both. Points and other distinctions are awarded for check-ins, and some
businesses offer additional incentives, such as coupons, for checking in at their
locations. A screenshot of what Foursquare looks like on a mobile device is shown
below.
LinkedIn launched in 2003 as a social network for work professionals, and has become
the standard for employers looking for new talent. Through LinkedIn, users can search
for jobs, submit applications, and join work-related groups.

MySpace was launched in 2003, and was, at one time, the most popular social
networking site in the world. It has since been surpassed by Facebook, but continues to
be used, most notably as a way for independent bands to share their music. In 2011,
MySpace was sold to Specific Media and pop star Justin Timberlake for approximated
35 million dollars.

YouTube dates only from 2005 but has grown exponentially since then. It was
purchased in November 2006, for $1.65 billion in Google stock. Users may register with
YouTube to upload videos, rate them, and participate in different user groups, but it is
not necessary to register in order to view video clips, send them to others, or embed
them in other websites. YouTube has quickly become the preeminent video-sharing site
on the Internet, though its success has created competitors. Increasingly, advocacy
groups and political parties have also used YouTube to get their messages out.
YouTube helped create the concept of viral video, in which videos may be easily shared
with millions of people through other forms of Internet communication.

Social Networks for Photo Sharing

Popular services for hosting and sharing images include Flickr, Instagram, and
Pinterest.

Flickr is an image and video hosting website and online community launched in 2004
and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to
upload and share personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to host
images they embed in blogs and other forms of social media. Services similar to Flickr
include Photobucket and Google’s Picasa.
Instagram is a photo sharing application launched in 2010 that allows users of mobile
devices to take a photo, apply a digital filter to it, and then share it on a variety of social
networks. A distinctive feature confines photos to a square shape, similar to old-
fashioned Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid images. In 2012, Facebook acquired
Instagram for approximately $1 billion in cash and stock, with plans to keep it
independently managed.

Launched in 2010, Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social networks on the web.
Pinterest allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections by
uploading their own photos, or by importing (also known as “pinning”) images from
elsewhere on the web. Users can browse and/or “follow” other pinboards for inspiration,
and can “like” and/or “re-pin” images to their own collections. Users can also share their
“pins” on both Twitter and Facebook. A screenshot of Pinterest is shown below.
Social Bookmarking
Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to organize, store, and share links to
online resources. Prior to the proliferation of social bookmarking services, the only way
for Internet users to save (or “bookmark”) links to web content that interested them was
to add them to a list of favorite links stored on their computers. If they typically used
more than one computer (one at home and one at work, for example), they had go
through the inconvenience of saving their favorite links on both machines. Social
bookmarking sites now enable users to gain access to their favorite links from any
device with an Internet connection, and to share links with other users. Delicious,
founded in 2003, popularized the terms "social bookmarking" and "tagging." Tagging,
which is the practice of assigning descriptive keywords to a bookmarked resource, is a
significant feature of social bookmarking systems, enabling users to organize their
bookmarks in flexible ways and develop shared vocabularies known as
“folksonomies.” Other popular social bookmarking services include StumbleUpon, Diigo,
and BuzzFeed. Social bookmarking services such as Reddit give users the ability to
vote on bookmarks submitted by others by giving a virtual “thumbs up” or “thumbs
down.” Resources with the most “upvotes” are given prominence on the service’s
website. Twitter and Pinterest are also considered social bookmarking services,
because of the ease with which users can organize and share content found elsewhere
on the web.

Internet Chat, Web Conferencing, and Ask a Librarian

Internet Chat
In Internet chat, people view and respond to messages from one another
instantaneously, much like a telephone conversation. Although some chat software
includes audio and/or video aspects, most chat and instant messaging programs are
text-based. One person types a message on the screen, and the other person sees the
message either as it is being typed or immediately after it has been typed.

There are two forms of Internet chat that are frequently found on the web: chat rooms
and instant messaging. Chat rooms tend to be open forums where a number of people
chat with one another simultaneously. Often the people who meet in a chat room are
people that have not met each other in the "real world." Instant messaging (IM), on the
other hand, is a one-on-one form of Internet chat. Although you can choose to IM with
strangers, often it is used to communicate with friends and family. Examples of instant
message services include AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger (see screenshot
below). Some social networks, such as Facebook, have their own instant messaging
components. Services known as Voice over Internet Protocols (VoIP), such as Skype
and Google Hangouts, enable users to place phone calls over the Internet to
communicate by voice, video, or instant messaging.
Web Conferencing
Many institutions are discovering new ways to integrate Internet communications into
their organizations. One of the most frequently encountered is Web Conferencing,
which takes Internet chat to a new level. Web conferencing is currently being used by
businesses for employee training, meetings, and general communication. Educational
institutions are using web conferencing as a way to enhance on-site classes or distance
education classes.

Popular conferencing programs include AnyMeeting (a free service for hosting meetings
of up to 200 participants), and fee-based services Blackboard Collaborate and
GoToMeeting, which provide programs specifically designed for businesses and
educational institutions.

The illustration below is an example of a web conference using the Elluminate software.
In the column on the left is a list of conference participants, a chat box where
participants can engage in live chat, and a “talk” button, which allows participants using
microphones to communicate by voice. In this example, it looks like the conference
participants are collaborating to solve a mathematical problem.
Web conferencing programs can be particularly useful for group work. Students can use
programs such as Google Hangouts and Skype. Many people use their smartphones for
this purpose since they have cameras and microphones built into the devices.

Ask a Librarian
In July 2003, the state of Florida created a library information service that uses several
methods of Internet communication to provide information to all Florida residents. The
Ask a Librarian service is part of the Florida Electronic Library and provides "virtual
reference" service. The goal of a virtual reference service is to provide information
seekers with free, convenient, real-time access to a librarian who can answer reference
questions and assist the questioner in locating information on the web.

Special software is used to enable the questioner to communicate with a librarian via
live chat, text messaging, or email. The librarian can send handouts, help files,
spreadsheets, or slide presentations to the questioner. Since an increasing number of
library resources are available online, librarians can also recommend and provide
assistance with databases, eBooks, and other online reference sources. A knowledge
base has been created to provide answers to questions about local libraries. By
selecting a local library, questions may also be emailed to that library. Some institutions
have desk hours where their own institution’s librarians are on Ask a Librarian.
When you see the Ask a Librarian icon on a Florida library website, simply click to
access chat, email, or query the knowledge base. To log in to chat, make sure you
disable your pop-up blocker or set it to allow pop ups from the Ask a Librarian site.
If you are having trouble researching a topic for a paper, you can ask a librarian what
other sources are available to you or what other search terms you may have
overlooked.

Blogs, RSS Feeds, and Podcasts

Blogs
A blog is a website that allows a web author to simply and easily share thoughts and
ideas with other web users. The word blog comes from weblog, which refers to a log of
dated postings by a particular author or group of authors. Blogs can cover any topic or
can just be someone’s daily, weekly, or occasional diary of thoughts and opinions.
Blogs can be interactive when readers add comments and a discussion is created.
Many blogs are topic specific, such as Inside Higher Ed or Simply Recipes. You can find
blogs on almost any topic.

You can also create your own blog. There are many software programs and web-based
blog hosting services, such as WordPress, Blogger, Weebly, and Squarespace. Blogs
are created using a simple-to-use content management system that offers such features
as organization of postings into categories, a calendar view of postings, password
protected posting, file uploads, and comment moderation. If you do decide to develop
your own blog, remember that the information you post can be viewed for a long time by
just about anyone, including future employers.

Twitter is an example of a “microblogging” service, because it allows users to share (or

“tweet”) their thoughts, but limits them to 140 characters per tweet. Although Tumblr
doesn’t impose such strict limits, it is also considered a microblogging platform because
users tend to be brief when posting content to their Tumblr blogs. However, some use
Tumblr blogs as "full format" blogs, and post opinions, criticisms and longer form
articles.

RSS Feeds
RSS is an acronym for several phrases; the most common is Really Simple Syndication,
but it is sometimes referred to as Rich Site Summary, or RDF Site Summary. An RSS
feed allows you to track new content on a website or blog or to keep up with the latest
news stories. An RSS reader or browser is required for you to read the headlines or
updates.

Instead of visiting your favorite blogs and websites independently to check for new
content, it is much more convenient to subscribe to each blog’s RSS feed. Then, new
content will automatically be delivered to your RSS reader, providing you with a one-
stop shop where you can monitor all of your favorite sites.

The popularity of RSS has declined in recent years. Some browsers, email services,
and websites have discontinued supporting RSS. For example, Google’s RSS reader,
Google Reader, has been discontinued. There are still ways you can access RSS feeds
including via browser extensions for your computer or apps for your smart phone.
Feedly is a popular RSS aggregator offering a browser extension and apps for Android
and iOS.

Increasingly, web users are finding that social media sites such as Twitter can be used
in place of RSS readers. Since many news sites and blogs tweet links to their latest
posts, you can simply follow them on Twitter to keep track of new content.

Podcasting
A podcast is a series of computer files, usually in audio or video format, to which users
can listen to via streaming or download. It is helpful to think of a podcast as being
similar to a radio or television series, but instead of having to remember to tune in at a
particular time to listen to or watch your favorite program, a podcast is a program to
which you can subscribe, and have each episode automatically delivered to your
computer. You can also visit a hosting site, at your convenience, and stream or
download episodes. iTunes is an example of software that can be used as a podcatcher
(an RSS aggregator that supports multimedia). Other popular podcatchers include
gPodder and Juice. iTunes is also a good place to search for podcasts that might be of
interest to you. You can also find many podcast directories on the web, including Digital
Podcast. As with blogs, there are podcasts on almost every conceivable topic.

Anyone can start his or her own podcast. To create an audio podcast, you would need a
microphone, a computer, and some kind of sound recording software such as
GarageBand (an application for Mac computers and iPhones), or Audacity (freely
available on the web for Windows, Mac, and other operating systems). You would then
have to publish your recordings on the Internet. There are many audio/video hosting
services, such as iTunes and Podbean, that will help you accomplish this.

There are differing opinions as to the origin of the word “podcast.” Some say it is a
combination of the words “iPod” and “broadcast.” According to others, it comes from the
acronym P.O.D., which stands for “portable on demand,” or “personal on demand.” This
refers to the fact that podcast episodes are available on the web for users to consume
at their convenience. It is important to note that you do not have to have an iPod in
order to receive or create podcasts. Podcasts can, however, be downloaded to iPods
and other mobile devices for listening on the go.
Wikis
A wiki is a collaboratively developed website that allows users to edit the site’s content
using a web browser. The most famous example of a wiki is the Wikipedia, an online
encyclopedia that is continuously maintained by a worldwide community of tens of
thousands of volunteer contributors. Many businesses, educational institutions, and
social groups use wiki software to collaborate on various projects.

The Wikipedia was created using a free software program called MediaWiki. If you want
to start your own wiki, you can use the same software, but a certain amount of technical
knowledge is required. There are other, easier-to-use wiki services such as PBWorks,
Wikidot, and WikiSpaces. Here is a video that provides a brief overview of how wikis
work:

The first wiki software, known as “WikiWikiWeb,” was invented by computer

programmer Ward Cunningham in 1995. He chose the word “wiki,” which in Hawaiian
means “quick,” because of the ease with which users can edit wiki sites.

Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 License
Copyright © 1997-2015 Florida College System, Council on Instructional Affairs,
Learning Resources Standing Committee. Last revised June 2015 by the LIS 2004 Course Revision Committee.