Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyFluency with Information TechnologyThird Editionby Lawrence SnyderChapter 12: Computers In Polite Society:Social Implications of IT12-21-2Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyImproving the Effectiveness of Email• Problems with email:– Conveying emotion– Emphasis– Conversational pace– Ambiguity– Flame-a-thons12-31-3Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyConveying Emotion• Difficult to convey subtle emotions using email– Medium is too informal, impersonal, and casually written– Conversational cues are missing• Emoticons are popular– Tags a sentence indicating the emotion we mean to communicate– :-)12-41-4Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyEmphasis• Typing for emphasis can convey the wrong meaning– Text in all caps can be interpreted as yelling• Email is still largely ASCII based and may not allow italics or underlining– Asterisks and underscores can represent bold and italics12-51-5Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyConversational Pace• Asynchronous medium makes dialog difficult– For interactive purposes (like negotiation) synchronous medium like telephone may be best– IM better?12-61-6Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyAmbiguity• Text can be interpreted in ways we don't intend– People often don't proofread what they write in email to avoid ambiguity12-71-7Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyFlames• Flame is slang for inflammatory email• Flame-a-thon is ongoing exchange of angry emails• When angered by email, it's best to delay answering until you cool down12-81-8Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyNetiquette• Rules to promote civilized email usage– Ask about one topic at a time– Include context (include the question with your answer)– Use an automated reply if unable to answer mail for a period of time– Answer a backlog of emails in reverse order– Get the sender's permission before forwarding email– Use targeted distribution lists (don't send the latest joke to every person you've ever exchanged mail with)12-91-9Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyExpect the Unexpected• Suppose a Mailing List Handler Has a Bug– Unsubscribe messages start getting sent to everyone on the list, for some reason• Someone on the list complains about getting the unsubscribe message• Someone else mails back that the list is obviously broken, stop complaining• People should notice there's a problem and stop traffic on the list until it's fixed– Be alert to unusual event and then think about them12-101-10Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyCreating Good Passwords• The Role of Passwords– To limit computer or system access to only those who know a sequence of keyboard characters• Breaking into a Computer without a Password– Trying all possible passwords algorithmically would eventually find correct password, but software usually limits the number of tries• Forgetting a Password– Passwords are scrambled or encrypted and stored, so system administrator usually can't tell you your password if you forget it12-111-11Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyGuidelines for Selecting a Password• It's not a good idea to choose something easily guessed, but should be easy for you to remember• Should have at least 6-8 characters• Mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation characters• Sequence not found in dictionaries• No personal association (like your name)12-121-12Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyHeuristics for picking a password• Select a personally interesting topic– Always select passwords related to topic• Develop a password from a phrase rather than a single word• Encode the password phrase– Make it short by abbreviating, replace letters and syllables with alternate characters or spellings12-131-13Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyChanging Passwords• Should be changed periodically• Managing Passwords– Using a single password for everything is risky; using a different password for everything is hard to remember– Passwords can be recycled• Make slight changes to good passwords or• Rotate passwords12-141-14Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyViruses and Worms• It's a Zoo Out There– Virus is a program that "infects" another program by embedding a copy of itself. When the infected program runs, the virus copies itself and infects other programs– Worm is an independent program that copies itself across network connections– Trojan is a program that hides inside another useful program, and performs secret operations• May record keystrokes or other sensitive data, or load malicioussoftware– Exploit is a program that takes advantage of security hole • Backdoor access enters computer and reconfigures it for remote control12-151-15Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyHow to "Catch" a Virus• Email attachments. Do not open attachments before checking– Is this email from someone I know?– Is the message a sensible follow-up to the last message from the sender?– Is the content of the message something the sender would say to me?– Is there a reason for the sender to include an attachment?• When in doubt, be cautious12-161-16Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyHow to "Catch" a Virus (cont'd)• Copying software from infected computer• Peer-to-Peer Exchange– Downloading files from unreliable sources• New Software– Any software is a potential source of infected code– Most software distributors are careful to avoid infection12-171-17Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-WesleyVirus-Checking Software• Three companies are McAfee, Norton, and Sophos, Inc.• Programs check for known viruses, worms, etc.• New viruses are created all the time, so update often12-181-18Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson