Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh

Informational Newsletter
Volume 95, Number 2
/projects/ckp/newsletter/v95n2.html

Using Email

When I get home the first thing I like to do is read my mail. I rush over to the mailbox and pick up my letters. All the letters are addressed to me with my house number, street, city, state and zipcode. Typically I sort the mail into piles - personal, bills, magazines, games that I might win $$$$ ... I rip the letters open and read them. Some I save, a lot I throw away, I reply to the bills and the coupons I pass on to friends.

Email is the electronic version of this activity. To send and receive email you must have an email address. Anyone across the world who uses email can send me a message. The following scenario is how I typically do email during the day:

When I go to work I turn my computer on, login to my CK:P account, and rush to pick up my email. All correctly addressed electronic mail gets deposited in my INBOX.
I view a list of my messages. The name, date, size and subject of the messages are shown in an index.
I then read my email.
Having read a message I can choose to reply to the sender.
I can also forward the message to someone else. I must know the email address of the person I am forwarding the message to.
I can save any message I want for future use.
Messages that I don't save, I delete.

Sometimes rather than read email, I will sit down and compose an email message. I'll have to address it correctly in order for it to be delivered. If the address is incorrect, the message will be returned. When I send the message out, it will automatically contain my return address. I can also carbon copy any number of people as long as I know their email addresses.

Your Email Address

On the CK:P system, email addresses look like johndoe@pps.pgh.pa.us . All accounts have the same email address extension - pps.pgh.pa.us. For example if Jerry Lewis had an account on our system, his email address would be: lewis@pps.pgh.pa.us. Internet email addresses have a consistent format. Here are some examples.

thomas@pitt.edu	EDU means university
williams@nsf.gov	GOV means government
jones@pps.pgh.pa.us	PA.US means Pennsylvania, USA
smith@cbs.com	COM means commercial
lewis@rand.org	ORG means organization

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: How do I find out a person's email address on the Internet?
Answer: Generally, the best way to find an email address is to call the person up and ask. If the person is on the CK:P system, try the command finger followed by the person's first or last name after you login. If the person is on another system and you know part of the address (i.e. they attend CMU university), you might try finger lastname@cmu.edu.

Workshops and Support

In the last newsletter, we announced a number of Internet classes. As you might imagine, we are overwhelmed with requests. In order to try and accommodate the large demand, we are looking into adding new sections.

If you are interested in attending the Internet classes, please call our secretary, Kathy Mingone at 622-5930 and sign up. Sign up will be on a first-come first-serve basis. Individuals will be allowed to sign up for two sessions.

Obtaining Help

Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh maintains a number of email addresses that provide users with online help. If you have an account on the system and would like to obtain answers to common questions, send email to:

trouble@pps.pgh.pa.us (technical assistance)

resources@pps.pgh.pa.us (curricular assistance)

info@ckp.edu (information pertaining to Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh)

sliplube@pps.pgh.pa.us (setting up a slip account on a PC)

macslip@pps.pgh.pa.us (setting up a slip account on a MAC)

If you would like to obtain an email account, please call our secretary, Kathy Mingone at 622-5930.