Web Email Options for Schools

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Web Email Options for Schools

• SCOCA Conference
• December 16-17, 1999

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Topics

• Web Email Advantages
• Web Email Disadvantages
• Whats wrong with Yahoo or Hotmail?
• Mail Protocols POP and IMAP
• Solutions BESS IMP and SCOCA TWIG
• Support
• Demos

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Web Email Advantages

• Mail is accessible from any internet/web browser
  enabled workstation
• Either through a direct Ethernet connection or
  dialup
• No need for Network Administrators to setup
  special mail readers and permissions/authenticatio
  n

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Web Email Disadvantages

• Not quite as fast as a dedicated mail program
• Some features of regular mail readers can be
  difficult to implement through a web interface
• Rapid access to individual messages

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Whats Wrong With Yahoo Or Hotmail?

• spamming by students from anonymous accounts
• Lack of facility to track accounts
• Advertising
• Yahoo and Hotmail email access will eventually be
  blocked by SCOCA

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Mail Protocols POP And IMAP

• POP Post Office Protocol
• IMAP Internet Mail Access Protocol

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POP Vs. IMAP The Short Story

• POP
• Geared more towards a user who just uses one
  machine for mail access
• Downloads mail from main server and then deletes
  it, storing messages on the workstation
• An offline implementation

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POP Vs. IMAP The Short Story

• IMAP
• More useful to an individual that accesses mail
  from more than one machine
• Mail is always kept on the server
• Management of mail into different folders is
  possible
• Can be online or offline

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POP Vs. IMAP The Short Story

• Most Web Mail programs are being implemented with
  the IMAP Protocol
• For web mail, IMAP is used as online
• The user must be connected to the Internet either
  through a LAN or Dialup connection

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Solutions BESS IMP SCOCA TWIG
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BESS IMP

• Uses IMP A Linux-Based Open Source IMAP
  implementation
• BESS only supplies access to the IMP program
• Mail accounts still need to be stored either on a
  school server, or a main server at SCOCA

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BESS IMP

• IMP uses JavaScript in its design
• This makes IMP more client-side oriented and
  browser dependent. Some older browsers may have
  compatibility problems

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SCOCA TWIG

• TWIG The Web Information Gateway
• Linux-Based Open Source IMAP implementation
• In addition to Email, TWIG also has Groupware
  features
• Contacts
• Schedule
• To-Do
• Bookmarks

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SCOCA TWIG

• Groupware features can be turned on or off
  through Access Control Lists
• TWIG also provides access to Internet Newsgroups
• TWIG uses PHP in its design
• PHP is server-side so that TWIG is compatible
  with all browsers

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Access to TWIG

• You must have a valid SCOCA user account
• TWIG
• http//news.scoca-k12.org/twig/

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Support

• SCOCA TWIG Support
• Initial support through email listserv ONLY
• Subscription information available at
• http//news.scoca-k12.org/mailman/listinfo/
• Click on the TWIG hyperlink