Bracondale Residents Association

Transcription

1 Bracondale Residents Association Web Coffee Morning: 21 January 2016 Why Use the Internet? The Internet is a powerful resource that we can all benefit from. The Association exists in part to foster communications between its members. We have no desire to reduce the extent to which people meet one another or adopt less personal means of communication. gives us all the opportunity to communicate rapidly, even when we are not physically at home. We can communicate more often and with less preparation, cost and effort than printing and posting or hand delivering sheets of paper to over 160 members. The Web enables us to advertise our presence to new residents as well as to the wider community. We use it to keep an archive of things like newsletters that all registered members can access. We can also both circulate and collect together in one place things like the book club notes. We have a calendar which serves to advertise and remind members of events. We can use the website to bring attention to anything that might be of interest to members from tree removal to a surfeit of quinces. We can display photos of the neighbourhood and our organised events. We encourage registered members to become involved in Discussions. The Internet: A worldwide network of computers connected together Sending typed messages (just like letters) to one or several people simultaneously. Web: Searching and viewing text, pictures etc. Made up of pages linked together (like references in a book). You click a link to follow it and click Back to return to the previous page. Links are usually highlighted Other stuff: Examples are shared documents and images in cloud storage, Streamed Music & Video- BBC iplayer, Spotify etc

2 Some General Terms Computer (Hardware): The physical box (keyboard, screen and main unit); can be a PC, Mac, ipad, tablet or mobile phone. (Operating) System: The software that runs in the background on the computer and makes things happen such as managing files and network connections etc. Varies according to the type of computer eg ios for ipads, OX X for Macs, Android for Android phones and tablets, Microsoft Windows for PCs. Software (Applications or Apps): The programs running on a computer that the user works with eg Word, Safari File: A chunk of computer storage containing the information that makes up a document, picture, or spreadsheet etc. You give files names to identify them so you can find them and access their content. Be aware that some punctuation marks may not be permitted in file names. Folder: A special type of file that contains other files. Use folders to collect together related items to make it easier to find them again. Analogy: a filing cabinet has drawers (folders) containing a number of hanging files (sub-folders) which hold various individual documents (files). Open: Click or double click a file name so system starts the appropriate program/app to access its content Server: A computer or piece of software that provides a service to other computers. eg File-servers manage files, Mail-servers manage mail messages, Web servers web pages. Client: The counterpart to the server: a program or computer that accesses a server eg Mail client, web client A client of a web server is called a web browser. A web browser is a program that accesses the web eg Safari, Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome, Firefox addresses are made up of two parts separated by the eg someone@somewhere The part after is called the domain name and usually identifies the mail service provider eg btinternet.com while the part before is the user name and is unique within that domain. The combination is unique worldwide. username@domain eg bracondaleresidentsassociation@gmail.com dave161@btinternet.com info@norwich.gov.uk Case can matter but usually doesn t. Generally use lower case.

3 Sending and receiving s: s move around much like letters go from sorting office to sorting office. messages move between mail servers Your provider (eg btinternet, virginmedia, ) will use one of their computers to send and receive your mail. Attachments: Just as a letter can have a document or picture as an enclosure, messages can have files attached. An attachment is a file (picture, document, spreadsheet) that is sent with a message. Not all computers can read all file types so some attachments you send may prove to be unreadable by the person you have sent them to. This is not the case with most photos (jpeg) but is common with document files sent between Apple and Microsoft systems. The solution is to convert your document to a portable document format ( PDF ). PDF is a common format for attachments that almost anything can display but not modify. Most programs can save documents in PDF. If not you can find free programs on the web that do this. Usually there is a limit on the size of attachments, hence large or multiple images may cause messages to fail. Up to 10MB (about a couple of digital photos) is generally OK. security s can be used to send malicious messages that could steal personal information or mess-up your computer. Simply viewing an is unlikely to be dangerous but do be wary of opening attachments from senders that appear to be well known agencies (banks etc.) but which are unexpected. Beware of unexpected s asking you, for example, to revalidate your account by clicking a link. Banks etc. tend not to use ordinary and usually communicate through their websites. Beware of messages from people you don t know or, if you do know them, have deviated from their normal style. World Wide Web (www) A website is a collection of web pages usually all stored on one web server. First page is called the Home page. A site can be anything from a single page to many pages all connected together by links. A web page is a single document made up of text, images and possibly sound and video. It can be of any length or width. You may need to Scroll to see all of it. A web page can contain links to other pages or sites eg Our Website Google

4 You click on a link to follow it to its page. Each page has an address known as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) eg. Layout of a web page There is no standard layout but typical pages contain: A navigation bar at the side or top with links to the Home and other useful pages. A central area with the principal information for the page. Note that although they are called pages they may be long and you may need to drag the scrollbar to see more of the page. There is often a footer with key information about the site, perhaps with links to their Contact Us and About Us pages. Finding things on the Web Use a search engine such as: more. Yahoo and many Just type a few relevant keywords eg Norwich history Bracondale residents Exchange rate dollar pound No need for properly formed questions What is the will just be ignored Refining your search (in google) Limiting selection to UK sites: (for instance, if you need a local product) click Search Tools, then when Any Country appears click it and select UK Selecting a time frame: (for example, to exclude out of date events) Search Tools, Last month (for example). Excluding results: (for example, if you want historical information about an area you may not want estate agents pages) Bracondale -Rightmove The Association Website - Home page: Information about the Association and links to all the other sections of the site. Discussion Topics Calendar, etc. Public Areas: Pages we share with anyone who browses the site Private Areas: Pages we restrict to members who have registered for web access.

5 Discussion Topics We have a place on the website in which registered members can make comments or ask the membership for advice. This is a set of Discussion Topics and there is no limit on the number that can be created. They may be set up so they are either private to the membership or can be seen by anyone. Only registered members can initiate and post comments to a Discussion Topic. We use the private area for information that we would not necessarily want to share with the general public, such as contact details of the committee, and to restrict who can post to the discussions. Example: The Book Club keeps notes of all its discussions and details of upcoming meetings in a Discussion Topic. The word Post is used, in the sense of sticking up a poster, for the action of contributing to a discussion. Click on Discussions to see the list of topics. Click on a topic to see messages in that topic Click Reply to an existing message to continue discussion on that topic Click Post a New Message to start a new topic Joining the website To access the private area of our website you have to be registered and log-in to the site. You register via the website by: Clicking the Login button Clicking Register now for your login to Voice Completing your details We then check the applicant is actually a member and then approve the request. This triggers an with a link to click to complete your registration (this is an example of an expected with a link and, as such, is safe). Once you have your ID and Password, you use these to log-in each time you access the private areas of the site. Computer Security Phones and computers can fail, be stolen or damaged so always keep copies of important data: documents, photos etc, in a separate location from the original, eg Cloud storage, memory stick or external disk.

6 Computers provide criminals with a possible means to access your information. But following good practise will minimise your risk. Keep software up to date. If a PC or a MAC wants to install an update (to its operating system) then generally allow it as these updates may have fixed a security loophole. On a PC always install a security product, even a free one. Think before you type personal information into a web site. If anything is at all unusual then be cautious. Never provide your password except at the normal login. Never open an attachment in a message you did not expect. Especially things like invoices from companies you do not deal with. Passwords Use passwords that are hard to guess. VaRy CaSe, Include number5 and or s /mbols Change important passwords from time to time Keep a cryptic record of important passwords Use different passwords for different systems, especially the financial ones so if one is compromised the others are still safe. If you have problems thinking of passwords try using something that you can remember like the title of a book or a poem as a cue, use just the initial letters and then add some digits and symbols. Example Shall I compare thee to a summer s Day? with a suffix of 6/ would give the password sicttasd?6/ ADDITIONAL MATERIAL: Accessing There are three main ways of sending and receiving mail Using a website provided by your mail provider (WEBMAIL) eg. gmail.com, outlook.com, btinternet.com. You can access all your mail anywhere and from almost any device. It can be a bit slow. All your messages are stored on your mail provider s servers. Using a mail program on your own computer (POP) eg. Outlook, Thunderbird. You keep all your messages under your control. Tools tend to be more flexible. Using a local mail program to access mail on your server (IMAP). Usual mode on phones and tablets. Works with most mail programs.