23USECG27 INTERNET AND ITS APPLICATIONS

Unit III: Internet Services

Online Chatting and Conferencing Concepts – E-mail Mailing Lists – Usenet Newsgroup
Concepts – Reading Usenet Newsgroups – Video Conferencing.

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3.1 Online Chatting and Conferencing Concepts

Internet nowadays is very common and available to all at cheap rates and can be used as a good
means of communication. Using the internet we can make text conversations with anyone.
Send your message to anyone and will get a reply, it’s known as instant messaging. You can
talk over the internet with anyone, which is known as voice chatting, and even with the help of
a webcam, we can also have video calls or video chatting.

Chatting refers to the kind of communication done with the help of the internet which present
live transmission of text messages from sender to receiver. Online chatting can be termed as
the point-to-point, one sender-to-one receiver, or one sender-to-many receiver. It also features
voice, video, and also web conferencing services. Chatting can be done as a chat-based as well
as video-based (using webcams).
Chatting nowadays has evolved uniquely. In today’s world, we have a lot of applications and
websites which are widely used across the world. Chatting over the internet has made it a lot
easier to have a conversation with anyone. People from any corner of the world are now able to
contact the person on the other edge.
Following are the most common type of chatting:
 Instant Messaging: It is the most common way of chatting. It is text-based
communication. It happens between two people or groups of people.
 Internet Relay Chat: It is known as IRC. It is also a text-based chat. It is not owned by
any company and to use IRC we need a client program. Using IRC we can participate in
discussion channels or can communicate with only two partners or users.
 ICQ: It is known as I seek you. It is the most useful communication program. Using ICQ
we can send files, URLs, and more. It is just like instant messaging but allows you to enter
into the chat room and can chat with multiple people at a time.
 Voice Chatting: We can chat not only with text but also with sounds as well. It is known
as voice chatting. Voice chatting can be used with the internet just as a phone call. Internet
voice call is free and unlimited, it only needs a good internet connection.
 Video chatting: Video chatting is also a kind of chatting which is also done with the help
of the internet and it also requires a webcam as it is a face to face chatting. Internet speed
required by video chatting is higher as compared to text and video chatting. And a good
quality camera too.

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3.1.1 Chat Room

A chat room is a part of an online service where users can have conversations with each other
through the internet. It can also be termed a virtual room. First users need to register to the
server after registration users can log in with the help of a username and password. In the chat
room, users are allowed to have conversations in multiple mediums such as text voice, or even
video calls. Transmission of multimedia ( images, videos, etc.) can also be done in the chat
room.

3.1.2 Chat Etiquette

Following are some chat etiquette that we should follow while chatting:
 Never use abusive words during a chat session.
 Don’t create too many groups unless necessary.
 Never share sensitive information on chat especially in groups.
 Don’t share viral posts unless it’s verified.
 During chats, banking details must not be shared.
 Never share private messages of user/friend/ person without asking their permission.
 Always remember no one is perfect so always respect people.

3.1.3 Chatting Platforms

Nowadays there are many chatting platforms available for users. Some of them are mentioned
below:
 Facebook: Facebook is one of the oldest and most used platforms for chatting. It was
founded in February 2004. Facebook offers text, voice, and video chat to its users. Users
can also post some materials on Facebook. Facebook is available for users in many
different languages. Facebook is currently owning different chatting applications.
(WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger).
 WhatsApp: WhatsApp is also one of the most used platforms. It is owned by the Facebook
group. WhatsApp too offers all types of chatting (Text, voice, and video). It is available in
many different languages.
 Skype: Skype was initially released in August 2003. It is mostly used for live meetings. It
is available in 101 different languages.
 Telegram: Telegram is a popular chatting application widely used across the world. It also
allows group as well as individual conversations. It is a multiplatform application, it can be
used on different operating systems for example mac, windows, Linux, ios, android.
 Snapchat: Snapchat is a mobile application for both Android as well as ios. One of the
core concepts of Snapchat is that the message sends to anyone whether it’s a videos
message, text, or audio it will only last for a short period.
 Hike: Hike messenger also known as hike sticker chat is a mobile application. Its main
feature is that it comes with sticker chatting which is unique as compared to other apps
whatever text you want to send it can be converted into a sticker.

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3.1.4 Risk from Chatting

Chatting also has some risks which one should be aware of:
 During Chatting always be aware of fake profiles, fake profiles are very dangerous as they
will allure you to share some confidential information, which can be used in blackmail.
 Never use that application or platforms which don’t offer proper end-to-end encryption.
Using such platforms can lead to chat leaks.
 Cyberbullying is a major of risk chatting over the internet, it includes sending threatening
messages, spreading lies about anyone, commenting bad or abusive language on someone’s
online profile, or blackmailing someone to bash their looks or reputation.
 Never share your profile passwords with anyone, it can be missed in multiple ways ad can
get down your reputation.

3.1.5 How Chat Safely?

While chatting keep the following points in mind for safely chat:
 Never share personal information with any unknown user.
 Before chatting always check the profile of the user, and try to determine if it’s fake or real.
 Only chat with those users who have a genuine profile picture.
 Don’t trust anyone. Never trust any unknown user to share banking details or any personal
information.
 Always keep your guard. During online chat never keep your guard off, always be aware if
someone is trying to peek into the device.
 Do complain (tell your parents) instantly if noticed some unsuspicious activity.

3.2 Mailing List

In order to send same email to a group of people, an electron list is created which is know as
Mailing List. It is the list server which receives and distributes postings and automatically
manages subscriptions.

Mailing list offers a forum, where users from all over the globe can answer questions and have
them answered by others with shared interests.

3.2.1 Types of Mailing List

Following are the various types of mailing lists:

Response List

It contains the group of people who have responsed to an offer in some way. These people are
the customers who have shown interest in specific product or service.

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Compiled List

The compiled list is prepared by collecting information from various sources such as surveys,
telemarketing etc.

Announcements

These lists are created for sending out coupans , new product announcements and other offers to
the customers.

Discussion List

This list is created for sharing views on a specific topic suchas computer, environment , healt,
education etc.

3.2.2 How does mailing list work?

Before joining a mailing list, it is mandatory to subscribe to it. Once you are subscribed, your
message will be sent to all the persons who have subscribed to the list. Similarly if any
subscriber posts a message, then it will be received by all subscribers of the list.

3.2.4 Finding Mailing List

There are a number of websites are available to maintain database of publically accessible
mailing list. Some of these are:

 http://tile.net./lists
 http://lists.com
 http://topica.com
 http://isoft.com/lists/list-q.html

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Mailing lists can also be found using Google website. In Google, move to directory and the
follow: Computers > Internet >Mailing List > Directories.

Subscribing to Mailing List

To subscribe to a list, you need to send an email message to the administrative address mailing
list containing one or more commands. For example, if you want to subscribe to Harry Potter list
in gurus.com where name of the list server us Majordomo, then you have to send email to
majordom@gurus.com containing the text, Subscribe harry potter in its body.

After sending the email, you will receive a confirmation email for your subscription. This email
will include list of commands that will help you to perform various operations such as
unsubscribing, receiving acknowledgement, and find out what list you are subscribed to.

There are many list servers available, each having its own commands for subscribing to the list.
Some of them are described in the following table:

List Server Command Example

LISTSERV subscribe listname yourname subscribe commdhtml rahul

Majordomo subscribe listname subscribe commdhtml

ListProc subscribe listname yourname subscribe commdhtml rahul

3.3 USENET NEWSGROUP CONCEPT

Usenet (USEr NETwork)

Like mailing lists Usenet is also a way of sharing information. It was started by Tom Truscott
and Jim Ellis in 1979. Initially it was limited to two sites but today there are thousands of Usenet
sites involving millions of people.

Usenet is a kind of discussion group where people can share views on topic of their interest. The
article posted to a newsgroup becomes available to all readers of the newsgroup.

3.3.1 Newsgroup Classification

There exist a number of newsgroups distributed all around the world. These are identified using a
hierarchical naming system in which each newsgroup is assigned a unique name that consists of
alphabetic strings separated by periods.

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The leftmost portion of the name represents the top-level category of the newsgroup followed by
subtopic. The subtopic can further be subdivided and subdivided even further (if needed).

For example, the newsgroup comp.lang.C++ contains discussion on C++ language. The leftmost
part comp classifies the newsgroup as one that contains discussion of computer related topics.
The second part identifies one of the subtopic lang that related to computer languages. The third
part identifirs one of the computer languages, in this case C++.

The following table shows the top-level hierarchies of Usenet Newsgroup:

Computer related topics including computer Comp.lang.java.beans

Comp.*
hardware, software, languages etc. Comp.database.oracle

News.* Newsgroup and Usenet topics News.software.nntp

Artistic activities, hobbies, or recreational

Rec.* Rec.arts.animation
activities such as books, movies etc.

Sci.* Scientific topics Sci.bio.botany

Soc.* Social issues and various culture Soc.culture.india

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Conventional subjects such as religion, politics

Talk.* Soc.politics.india
etc.

Humanities.* Art, literature, philosophy and culture Humanities.classics

Miscellaneous topics i.e. issues tat may not fit Misc.answers

Misc.*
into other categories Misc.books.technical

3.3.2 Working of Usenet Newsgroup

When a newsreader such as outlook express connects to a news server, it downloads all the new
messages posted in the subscribed newsgroup. We can either reply a message after reading or
post a news article to the news server.

The article posted to a news server is appended to the file maintained for that newsgroup Then
the news server shares article with other news servers that are connected to it.

Then each news server compares if both carry the same newsgroup. If yes, then by comparing
the files it checks that if there are any new articles in the file, if so they are appended to the file.

The updated file of the news servers is then sent to other news servers connected to it. This
process is continues until all of the news servers have updated information.

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Reading Articles

If user wants to read article, user has to connect to the news server using the newsreader. The
newsreader will then display a list of newsgroups available on the news server where user can
subscribe to any of the news group. After subscription the newsreader will automatically
download articles from the newsgroup.

After reading the article user can either post a reply to newsgroup or reply to sender by email.
The newwsreader saves information about the subscribed newsgroups and articles read by the
user in each group.

Posting an Article

In order to send new article to a newsgroup, user first need to compose an article and specify the
names of the newsgroup to whom he/she wants to send. An article can be sent to one or more
newsgroup at a time provided all the newsgroups are on same news server.

It is also possible to cancel the article that you have posted but if someone has downloaded an
article before cancellation then that person will be able to read the article.

Replying an Article

After reading the article user can either post a reply to newsgroup or reply to sender by email.
There are two options available Reply and Reply group. Using Reply, the reply mail will be sent
to the autor of the article while Reply group will send a reply to whole of the newsgroup.

Cancelling an Article

To cancle an article after it is sent, select the message and click Message > Cancel message. It
will cancle the message from the news server. But if someone has downloaded an article before
cancellation then that person will be able to read the article.

3.3.3 Usenet netiquette

While posting an article on a newsgroup, one should follow some rules of netiquette as listed
below:

 Spend some time in understanding a newsgroup when you join it for first time.
 Article posted by you should be easy to read, concise and grammatically correct.
 Information should be relevant to the article title.
 Don’t post same article to multiple newsgroups.
 Avoid providing your business email address while subscribing to a newsgroup as may
be used by spammers.
 Avoid using capital letters as someone may interpret as shouting.
 Prefer to use plain text wherever possible in your article.

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Mailing list vs. Newsgroup

S.N. Mailing List Newsgroup

Messages are delivered to Messages are not posted to individual

1. individual mailboxes of subscribed mailboxes but can be viewed by anyone
member of group. who has subscribed to that newsgroup.

Working with mailing list is easier Working with a particular newsgroup

2. than newsgroup. It is easy to requires proper knowledge of that
compose and receive emails. newsgroup.

In order to send or receive mails,

3. It requires a newsgroup reader.
you required an email program.

Messages are delivered to certain

4. Messages are available to public.
group of people.

Mailing list does not support

5. Newsgroup supports threaded discussion.
threaded discussion.

Messages delivered to listed Article posted on a newsgroup can be

6.
subscribers can not be cancelled. cancelled.

3.4 Reading Usenet Newsgroup Postings

You can read newsgroups with a news reader client. Tips on searching newsgroups, sorting, and
access to newsgroups through email are described below.

Searching. Searching is always a powerful information sorting function. For example, you can
search a newsgroup for messages that have senders or subjects that match certain keywords of
interest to you. This can be useful if the newsgroup has a lot of messages so you can quickly find
those discussing subjects you are interested in. Once you find a message you want to read, you
can highlight that message, sort the message window by sender (see below), and then read any
other messages by the same author.

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The newsgroup search function is typically under an application menu item like “Edit / Find” or
“Edit / Search Messages”. Some news readers will even let you search through the contents of
the messages without downloading them, by sending a message to the news server which does
the search and returns the results.

 Sorting. You usually select a newsgroup by clicking on its name in the newsgroup list of
your news reader. Typically a window will open that lists all of the messages posted to
that newsgroup in the past several days. You can then sort the list by clicking on the title
at the top of the column that you want the list to be ordered by, such as those listed
below:
o Date. Sorts the list from first to last by the time they arrived on your news server. News
servers usually normalize all message times according to the GMTdate of their
origination, so that later messages are consistently listed after earlier messages.
o Lines. Orders the messages from smallest to largest, so that you can see approximately
how much space each one takes up.
o Sender. Orders the messages so that all those sent by the same sender are collected
together, so that you can see successive messages by the same person.
o Subject. Sorts the list into an alphabetical listing by subject, with similarly spelled
subjects grouped together.

3.5 Video Conferencing

Video conferencing is a technology that enables us to conduct a meeting online by using some
platforms which offer such facilities. It is very helpful for many people involved in different
sectors like education, businesses, Information Technology Industries, or even for Courts.
Meetings for different purposes, like routine meetings, business deals, or interviews, are often
conducted through video conferencing.

3.5.1 Working of the Video Conferencing

Video conferences typically use the IP address to connect all people virtually. Unlike telephone
conference, video conference allows users to see the person on the other side by using the
camera and screen of their respective devices. This makes video conferencing a more favourable
option than a telephone conference. The video conference also helps improve the relationship
with the other person compared to the telephone conference, as people feel more connected
because they can see each other while having a conversation.

Technology requirement of video conference:

1. Computer with access to internet connection
2. Browser
3. Speakers
4. Microphone(for both audio and video conference)
5. Web camera (for only video conference)

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3.5.2 Factors affecting Video Quality

If we talk about the factors which can affect video quality is firstly the speed of the internet.
Poor internet connection or slow connection acts as a barrier because people aren’t able to see
each other, sometimes their video or audio got paused. Although with the advancement of new
technology motion pictures can work in slower internet connection, but again people have to
compromise with the video quality.
There are some minor factors too that can also affect the quality of video conferencing like the
placement of the microphone. In video conferencing the audio plays an important role, without
any audio one cannot decode the message of others. Thus, the placement and quality of the
microphone also matter. At the same time, the placement of meeting, one should sit in the light
before attending the video conference as in darkness your face will not visible to others. Also,
during the presentation, the size of fonts and images matters a lot. If the font size of the
presentation is too small or images are blurred then no one can read your presentation or
understand your images.

3.5.3 Usefulness of Videoconferencing

The new normal already taught us a lesson about the importance of digital literacy. Nowadays,
whether an office meeting or school all are happening from home, and they all are using video
conferencing to meet each other. Video Conferencing also used to host live events and
seminars. Now let’s look at in detail :
1. Distance Learning: Even before the Covid situation, many people are using video
conferencing in the education field. This enables to set up a classroom-type environment
where teacher and student can both interact with each other. However, there are some
limitations, and one is the lack of human touch.
2. Business meetings: Again this is very popular, people meet and do their work together
over a distance.
3. Telecommuting/Home Office: No one has ever thought that people can work from home
and the only thing which made it possible is the advancement of Information technology
which includes video conference.
4. Legal environment: The use of video conferencing becomes a more frequent practice in
the courtroom. It helps to testify witnesses to appear in court without physically travel to
the courtroom.
5. Telemedicine: There are many times a patient needs medical advice but he/she is not able
to visit a doctor physically, then video conferencing comes into the picture where staying at
home one can take medical advice from the doctor or specialist.

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