Introduction to the Cloud and Online Email

Introduction to the Cloud and Online Email

Contents Objectives...3 When you complete this workshop you will:... 3 Introduction to the Cloud...3 What is the Cloud?... 3 Why use the Cloud?... 3 Problems surrounding the Cloud... 3 The History and General Concepts of Popular Services that the Cloud Offers...4 Email:...4 Email Providers:... 4 Webmail Providers:... 5 Difference between Web Based Programs vs. Actual Programs:... 5 Other Email Providers:... 5 Chatting:...5 Online Sharing:...6 Social Networks:...6 Online Backup and Storage...6 Productivity (Word Processing, Spread Sheet, and Presentation):...6 Calendar:...7 Which Providers Offer Which Services?...7 Introduction to Gmail...8 Why Create a Google Account...8 Benefits of a Google Account:... 8 Instructions on How to Create a Google Account...8 Basics:...8 To create a Google account:...8 How to Use Gmail (Webmail)...9 Basics:...9 How to Navigate through Gmail...9 Home Screen:...9 Categories...9 Left Column of Home Screen:... 10 Compose... 10 Inbox... 10 Starred... 10 Sent Mail... 10 Drafts... 10 Trash... 10 Organizing Emails:... 10 Primary, Social, and Promotions:... 10 Selecting Emails/Filtering Emails... 11

Starring Emails... 11 Compose Pane:... 12 To: Field and Recipients... 12 Cc and Bcc... 12 Subject... 12 Body... 12 Send... 12 Formatting Options... 12 Attachments... 12 Message Pane:... 13 Reply... 13 Reply All... 13 Forward... 13 Email Safety... 13 Basics:... 13 Spam... 13 Phishing... 13 Attachments... 13 Sign Out:... 14 Brief Overview of the other Services Google Offers... 14 Introduction:... 14 Google+:... 14 Gdrive:... 15 Calendar:... 15

Objectives When you complete this workshop you will: - Understand the abstract idea of using a cloud service - Be familiar with the multiple functions that a cloud service offers - Be familiar with the multiple providers of cloud services - Have created an account with Gmail - Understand how to use Gmail and its services, primarily email Introduction to the Cloud What is the Cloud? Cloud computing is simply the act of utilizing a network, usually the Internet, to store information that you want to access from multiple network devices. By utilizing The Cloud, you can get to any of your uploaded information anywhere you have access to the Internet. There are multiple parts to the cloud, each serving a unique function. There are some providers, like Google, that offer multiple services through a single source/account. For example, you can have your email, contacts, calendar, and documents all saved through Google. There are other providers that serve a single purpose, such as DropBox which allows you to upload and save files. User preference is important when deciding which provider to use. Why use the Cloud? There are many reasons to use the cloud, but the main reasons are convenience and reliability. In the past, if you wanted to bring a file with you, you would have to save it to a USB flash drive, external hard drive, or CD-R disc. Saving a file to the cloud ensures that you'll be able to access it with any computer that has an Internet connection, so you don't have any physical media to keep track of. The cloud also makes it much easier to share a file with coworkers or friends, making it possible to collaborate over the Web. With the cloud, you are much less likely to lose your data because it is stored on servers. However, just like anything online, there is always a risk that someone may try to gain access to your personal data, so it's important to choose a strong password and pay attention to any privacy settings for the service you are using. Problems surrounding the Cloud Cloud computing makes you dependent on the reliability of your Internet connection. When it's offline, you are offline. If your internet service suffers from frequent outages or slow speeds cloud computing may not be suitable for you.

Also, security issues have become a concern surrounding cloud services. Established cloud computing vendors have gone to great lengths to promote the idea that they have the latest, most sophisticated data security systems possible as they want your business and realize that data security is a big concern; however, their credibility in this regard has suffered greatly in the wake of the recent NSA snooping scandal. Keep in mind also that your cloud data is accessible from anywhere on the internet, meaning that if a data breach occurs then your data be compromised. Finally, be careful when you're choosing a cloud computing vendor that you are not locking yourself into using their proprietary applications or formats. For instance, you cannot insert a document created in another application into a Google Docs spreadsheet, for instance. Also make sure that you can add and subtract cloud computing users as necessary as your business grows. The History and General Concepts of Popular Services that the Cloud Offers (Some providers offer all of these services while others provide little of these services.) Email: As mentioned, email (electronic mail) is the oldest and most popular services that the cloud provides. Email is a form of communication that distributes messages by electronic means from one user to one or more recipients via the internet. By having an email through the cloud, it allows an individual to access their email anywhere with the help of devices that can connect to the internet, such as computers and phones. To receive emails, you will need an email account and an email address. Also, if you want to send emails to other people, you will need to obtain their email addresses. It is important to learn how to write email addresses correctly, because if you do not enter them exactly right your emails will not be delivered or might be delivered to the wrong person. Email addresses are always written in a standard format that includes a username, the @ (at) symbol, and the email provider's domain. The username is the name you choose to identify yourself, and the email provider is the website that hosts your email account. For example, an email address might look like this: Trinfocafehartford@gmail.com. Email Providers: In the past, people usually received an email account from the same companies that provided their Internet access. For example, if AOL provided your Internet connection, you would have an AOL email address. While this is still true for some people, today it is increasingly common to use a

free web-based email service, also known as webmail. Anyone can use these services, no matter your internet provider. Webmail Providers: Today, the top three webmail providers are Yahoo!, Microsoft's Outlook, and Google's Gmail. These providers are popular because they allow you to access your email account from anywhere with an Internet connection. Although each provider allows a user to access their email, the aesthetics and user friendliness of each user interface is slightly different Difference between Web Based Programs vs. Actual Programs: With the web-based email systems, the emails remain online outside of your computer. The user of these systems must go online to access, re-read, write etc. Any attachments received with these emails will also remain online, unless actually downloaded to the computer. The email programs that are already on the PC can be used offline, to write emails, and re-read emails. However, a user has to go online to download new emails from the ISP (internet service provider) providing the service. All emails and attachments come into the PC and thus, nothing remains at the ISP. Other Email Providers: Many people also have an email address hosted by their company, school, or organization. These email addresses are usually for professional purposes. For example, the people who work for Trinity College have email addresses that end with @trincoll.edu. If you are part of an organization that hosts your email, they'll show you how to access it. Many hosted web domains end with a suffix other than.com. Depending on the organization, your provider's domain might end with a suffix like.gov (for government websites),.edu (for schools),.mil (for military branches), or.org (for nonprofit organizations) Chatting: The concept and success of communication through emailing allowed for online chatting to quickly follow suit. Online chat refers to any kind of communication over the Internet that offers immediate transmission of text messages between individuals who are online. Generally short in length, chat messages enable other participants to respond quickly. Thereby, a feeling similar to a spoken conversation is created, which distinguishes chatting from other text-based online communication forms such as email. Since the 2000s, online chatting has become a common service offered through individual and multi-purpose platforms. AIM, Google Hangouts, and Skype are current applications that offer chatting through a multi-purpose provider. Advancements in chatting services have now made it possible to share photos and other files between users, allowing people to send and receive more information in real time. In addition to instant messaging, providers such as Google and Skype allow users to make phone calls and chat face-to-face through webcams. (Note: More information on chatting through Skype is briefly discussed in Trinfo s Introduction to Internet Service.)

Online Sharing: The realization of file sharing through email and chat providers led to a growing need for advanced communication options through the internet. Yet, email and chat providers have continually limited the size that uploaded files can be, obstructing the success of sharing information. Thus, the need for an alternative form of online sharing began developing, which would allow for people to keep their documents, photo albums, videos, and other files online. Whenever you upload files through a provider they are stored on internet servers rather than your computer's hard drive. This means you can access those files from any computer with an Internet connection or even a mobile device, like a tablet or smartphone. Because files can be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection, online sharing eliminates the need to email or save a file to a USB drive. By the mid-2000s single-purpose websites, such as www.flickr.com and www.youtube.com, gained momentum and allowed people to share files (photos and videos) to individuals, and to the general public. Social Networks: During this same period, social networks began emerging, allowing people to connect with each other through personal profiles. Sites such as MySpace and Facebook allowed users to upload photos, videos, and personal information directly onto a profile page. Users could also post links to other sites, such as www.youtube.com and www.flickr.com, making it remarkably simple to share information. By making profile pages open to the public, or only to friends, it allowed for an individual to share information with a large amount of people without actually sending things to individuals. These sites have since expanded from their initial objectives and now offer even more services to its users making these sites very popular. Online Backup and Storage: Before cloud storage services established themselves online backup services had been around for years. Online backup services allow you to back up and restore files that you upload to providers. However, many backup sites have a limited amount of space for uploads. Cloud storage is different. These services take a portion of your hard drive and synchronize it with the online storage. When you make changes on the hard disk they are quickly replicated to the cloud storage. If you have other systems on the account, such as photo application, the files are synchronized down to them. And so as you work on your files they are automatically backed up. Online storage can be free, but as mentioned the space offered for upload is limited. Many providers also offer services that can be purchased, which typically gives users more storage space and other benefits. Productivity (Word Processing, Spread Sheet, and Presentation): If you have ever used a productivity suite like Microsoft Office, online providers offer similar applications for creating files that might seem familiar. Creating documents, spreadsheets, and presentations are all possible through Cloud services. Similar to the other services through cloud, you can access your files anywhere, and it is easy to share and

collaborate on documents. Many providers let you decide exactly who you want to see your files by offering sharing settings. You can choose to 1) keep a doc private, 2) share it with a few people, and 3) make it public on the Web. Using online productivity services can be very helpful for business communication. Calendar: Having a calendar online offers personal use and/or workplace use, such as listing library events and classes, coordinating meetings and events with colleagues during conferences, or scheduling work shifts for residents at a hospital or librarians at the reference desk. This handy program also alerts users of upcoming calendar events as early as a week ahead to just five minutes before via email, pop-up reminders on the calendar, and/or cell phone text short message service (SMS). Users can easily add more calendars to their own calendars; additional personal calendars; coworkers and friends' calendars; holiday calendars (including official holidays from various nations and religions); public calendars of sporting, musical, and other events; and assorted calendars marking moon phases and other events. Some people are foregoing online invitation software, such as Evite, and using their Google Calendar to send out event invitations, as anyone who has an email address can view, respond, and include a comment in their responses. Which Providers Offer Which Services? Providers Email Chatting (Video Chat) File Sharing Productivity Calendar Backups Google Apps X X (Google Hangouts) X (Gdrive)* X (Google Docs) X X (Gmail) Yahoo X X X AOL X X Skype X* X* Dropbox X* Zoho X X X Open Drive X* X* Just Cloud X* X* Doodle X* Outlook.com X X Onedrive X X Mozy X* X Carbonite Apple/Icloud X X X X X X* Apach Open Office X X Facebook X X X AnyMeeting X* Gruveo X* ZipCloud X* X* MediaFire X* Megaupload X* DayViewer X (* Indicates that a provider has advanced services available for purchase)

Introduction to Gmail Why Create a Google Account Benefits of a Google Account: Google is probably best known as a search engine, since that is how it started out. You may already be familiar with Google, as it is the most popular search engine online. In fact, you probably have already used some of Google s expended services in the form of their News search, Image search, Maps, or Translate. However, Google has now become much larger than a search engine. They now offer services you can use to perform various tasks at home or at work. To use these services, like Gmail or Google Calendar, you need to sign up for a Google account so that Google has a place to save your data and settings. Instructions on How to Create a Google Account Basics: Creating a Google account is fairly simple. You will need to provide some basic information, like your name, age, and location. Once you create and verify your account, you will be able to use Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google+, and many other services. If you have a Gmail address, you already have a Google account so you will not need to create an account. You can simply sign in to Google using your Gmail information. To create a Google account: 1. Go to www.google.com and select the Sign in button in the top-right corner of the page. 2. Click Create an account. 3. The sign up form will appear. Follow the directions by entering the required information, such as your name, birth date, and gender. 4. Review Google s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, click the check box, then click Next step. 5. The Create your profile page will appear. Click Add a photo if you wish to add a photo to your Google+ profile. If you don t want to set a profile photo at this time, click Next step. 6. Your account will be created, and the Google welcome page will appear. *Just like with any online service, it is important to choose a strong password in other words, one that is difficult for someone else to guess.

How to Use Gmail (Webmail) Basics: Now that you have created an account, we can learn how to use email. In many ways, Gmail is like any other email service: You can send and receive emails, block spam, create an address book, and perform other basic email tasks. But it also has some more unique features that help to make it one of the most popular email services on the Web. In this lesson, we will talk about some of the features and advantages of Gmail, and also give an overview of the Gmail window. No matter which email service you choose, you will need to learn how to interact with an email interface, including the inbox, the Message pane, and the Compose panel. Depending on the email provider, the interfaces may look and feel different, but they all function in essentially the same way. Below are some examples of different email interfaces from the top webmail providers: Gmail, Yahoo!, and Hotmail. Review the images below to become familiar with various email interfaces. How to Navigate through Gmail Home Screen: When you log into Gmail, you will be brought to your inbox. As you can see, emails are listed with the name of the sender, the subject of the message, and the date received. To read an email that is in your inbox simply click on the email and you email will pop up. To go back to your inbox, simply click on Inbox in the left column. The left column is helpful because it consists of the folders that your emails can be categorized into. Categories

Left Column of Home Screen: Made up of the Compose button and multiple folders, the left column allows you to navigate through your email in a systematic manner. You can add and remove folders depending on your preference by pressing the more option and then manage labels. Compose - You can use the Compose or New button to create a new email. When you click on compose, a new box will appear in the bottom right corner of the screen and you can start to create a new email. Inbox - As mentioned, your inbox is where received messages will appear. Unread messages will usually appear in bold. Starred - You have the option to Star any email that you feel is important. It will show up in this folder and make it easier for you to find at a later date. Sent Mail - This folder consists of the emails you have written and sent to another person s email. This folder is helpful when you want to go back and check messages that you sent previously. Drafts - Drafts are messages that you have composed but not sent. When composing a message, you can choose to save your message as a draft and finish it later. Some providers will even save drafts automatically. Trash - You can delete any email from your inbox by moving it to the Trash. Just like the Recycle Bin or Trash on your desktop, messages in the Trash can be retrieved for a short time. However, emails will be permanently deleted after a certain amount of time in the Trash. Some providers, like Gmail, also allow you to archive your messages instead, which remove emails from the inbox but does not delete them. Organizing Emails: It can become very easy to flood your inbox with new emails daily if you are using your email productively. However, this means that an inbox can become cluttered and hard to navigate through. Because of this, Gmail has be it easy for its users to organize their emails into separate categories and folders. Primary, Social, and Promotions: Gmail allows it users to separate their inbox into separate categories, depending on the type of email you received. These categories can be seen at the top of the list of emails. Options for categories are primary, social, promotions, updates, and promotions. You can add or remove these categories by clicking on the settings icon in the top right hand corner of the home screen. When the settings box appears, click on configure inbox. From here you can pick which ones you want to appear on the home screen.

Selecting Emails/Filtering Emails On the left side of your inbox there are boxes next to each email that you have received. If you click on one of the boxes a check mark will appear and that email will become highlighted. At the same time option boxes will appear towards the top of the screen indicating that there are several options that you can do with your highlighted email(s). Archive: The first option that appears is to archive the selected email(s). Archiving an email means that instead of deleting an email completely it is instead moved out of your email and stored elsewhere. Report as Spam: Sometimes you will receive an email that is spam. A spam email is an identical message that is sent to numerous recipients trying to get people to visit websites and give personal information. Spam is obnoxious and does not need to be in your inbox. Gmail has a separate folder that contains emails that Google views as spam. However, sometimes spam messages are not caught. By manually marking an email as spam Gmail will remove the message from your inbox and recognize future emails that are similar. Delete: At times there will be emails in your inbox that you simply do not need. By deleting these emails they will go to your Trash folder and will be deleted automatically. Once emails are cleared from your trash they will no longer exist, so make sure that you are not deleting an email that you might want in the future. Starring Emails Next to the boxes that allow you to select emails are stars. When you click on a star it will fill with a yellow color. A starred email typically indicates that that email is important. As mentioned before, when an email is starred it shows up in the starred folder in the left hand column, making it easier to find in the future.

Compose Pane: You can click the Compose button which will open the compose pane, allowing you to create your own email message. From here, you'll need to enter the recipient's email address and a subject. You'll also have the option to upload files (photos, documents, etc.) as attachments and add formatting to the message. To: Field and Recipients - Whenever you send an email, you'll add recipients to the To: field. Recipients are the people you are sending the email to. You will need to type the email address for each recipient. You must have an email address for any person you wish to email. All emails addresses have a username, the @ (at) symbol, and the email provider's domain. Email addresses must be entered correctly or the message won't be delivered. Most of the time, you'll add recipients to the To: field but you can also add recipients to the Cc: or Bcc: fields. Cc and Bcc - Cc stands for "carbon copy." This is used when you want to send an email to someone who is not the main recipient. This helps to keep that person "in the loop" while letting them know that they probably do not need to reply to your message. Bcc stands for "blind carbon copy." All of the email address in the Bcc fields are hidden, making it ideal when emailing a very large number of recipients or when privacy is needed. Subject - The subject should say what the email is about. Keep the subject brief, but give the recipients a reasonable idea of what's in the message. Body - The body is the actual text of the email. Generally, you will write this just like a normal letter, with a greeting, one or more paragraphs, and closing with your name. Send - When you are satisfied with your message, you will click Send to send it to the recipients. Formatting Options - Formatting allows you to change the look and feel of your message. For example, you can change the font style, size, and color, and include links. Attachments - An attachment is a file (such as an image or a document) that is sent along with the email message. Click the Attachment button (paperclip icon) to include an attachment with the email. You will have to search for the file that you want to attach so make sure it is in a place that you can find easily.

Message Pane: When you select an email in the inbox, it will open in the Message pane. From here, you can read the message and choose how to respond with a variety of commands. Reply - Whenever you receive an email, you can use the Reply command to respond to the message. The Compose pane will appear with the text of the original message copied into the body of the email. Reply All - Sometimes you may receive emails addressed to you and lots of other recipients. When responding to these messages, you'll need to decide whether you want to reply to the original sender or all recipients. Only use the Reply All command if you want to send a message to everyone included in the original email. Many people accidentally use Reply All when they mean to reply to just the original sender. Forward - Whenever you want to share an email that you've received, you can use the Forward command to send the message to another person. Email Safety Basics: Email is not totally secure, so you should avoid sending sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, passwords, or your Social Security Number. In addition, you may receive emails from scammers and cybercriminals, so you'll need to know how to deal with those messages. Here are a few things to watch out for: Spam - Spam is another term for junk email or unwanted email advertisements. It's best to ignore or delete these messages. Luckily, most email services offer some protection, such as spam filtering. Phishing - Certain emails pretend to be from a bank or trusted source in order to steal your personal information. It's easy for someone to create an email that looks like it's from a specific business. Be especially cautious of any emails requesting an urgent response. Attachments - Some email attachments can contain viruses and other malware. It's generally safest not to open any attachment that you weren't expecting. If a friend sends you an attachment, you may want to ask if he or she meant to send it before downloading.

Sign Out: If you're concerned about privacy, or using webmail on a public or shared computer, you should always sign out when finished. To sign out simply click on the profile icon in the top right corner and click sign out. Brief Overview of the other Services Google Offers Introduction: As mentioned at the beginning of this lesson, once you have made a Google account there are multiple services that become available. These services are accessible through your Gmail by clicking on the small squares in the top right hand of the home screen. A box will appear with multiple options to choose from. These services include: Google+: Google+ is Google's Facebook rival. It differs from Facebook in that it allows you to categorize your contacts in 'circles' and share posts with whichever circles you like. You can create as many as you want, perhaps for work, friends, and another for family. The left-hand side is a menu that can be expanded by hovering of the Home button at the top. Further down the left-hand column is a button called Hangouts. This is where you can start video chats with up to nine people at once. When you're in a Hangout you can chat or watch YouTube videos together or play online games. Just as with Facebook, you can type a comment or upload a photo or video, or paste a link to a web page you like. People can comment on your post, and can '+1' it: the same as 'liking' something on Facebook. Before you submit your post, you should select which circles you want to share it with. You

can send a message to an individual by entering just their name, or make your post public so every Google+ user can read it. And, if you like to share photos and albums, Google+ gives you unlimited free storage for high-resolution photos, which you can share with the people you want. When you've uploaded images, you can edit them by clicking on them and then the Edit photo link at the top of the page. You can crop, rotate and sharpen images, as well as adding effects, borders and even fake beards. Gdrive: This service allows you to not only upload documents from your computer to the cloud but also allows you to create documents that are completely online and not on your computer. When you arrive at the homepage, you're presented with a list of your documents and the option to upload more from your computer or create a new document, spreadsheet, presentation, form, drawing or table. These options are located in the left column on the homepage. Google s document applications are very similar to Microsoft s Word making an easy transition. Although some of the more advanced features of the latest version of Microsoft may be missing from Google application, there's enough here to keep most people happy. Another important feature of Gdrive is that you can share your documents with other users, allowing for editing and general sharing. Calendar: As the name suggests, Calendar is Google's online diary. You can launch it from the menu bar at the top of the page when you're logged into your Google account. As you'd expect, you can choose from a variety of views from a single day to a whole month. Adding appointments and meetings is easy as Calendar understands natural language. Click the arrow next to the create button and type a sentence into the Quick Add box such as 'lunch with John 1pm on Friday' or 'team meeting tomorrow 10am'. The event will be added to your calendar on the correct time and date.