Is the medium the message ?
According to Marshall McLuhan: "The Medium is the Message"
Probe Ministries by: Todd Kappelman
http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/mcluhan.html
And if so, what is email ?
+ Messages that are sent electronically via computer networks.
+ Electronic mail. Text messages sent through a computer network to a
specified individual or group. Email messages can also carry attached
files.
+ Electronic mail. Mail composed and transmitted on a computer system or network.
+ The most popular application on the Internet, email allows you send
and receive text, HTML, images and other data files. Email is known as
the "killer-app" because it is the most popular online activity and a
vital tool for electronic commerce.
Search through Google:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2005-19,GGLD:en&oi=defmore&q=define:Email
What would Marshall McLuhan say about email. Is it hot, is it cool ?
"When Marshall McLuhan wrote his book on electronic communication,
Understanding Media (1959), he envisioned technological changes
supplanting existing media with new media that would incorporate old
media an alter the social structure at the same time. He traced such
changes through history and showed how they had taken place many times
before, with new technologies arriving that incorporated older ones.
The new technologies he called "hot," and the old ones "cool." The
Internet did not exist when McLuhan wrote this book, but he seems to
be predicting just the sort of change that the Internet is bringing.
Interactive computing is found on the Internet, a loose agglomeration
of computing networks that enables the user to access vast amounts of
information from sources all over the..."
Search Result:
http://www.academon.com/lib/essay/internet-communication.html
And most importantly, is plain text email inherently different from the
HTML email containing colors and pictures and styling, and if so - how.
In Microsoft Windows XP, to help preserve the user's privacy and
prevent virus attacks, Microsoft Outlook Express 6 blocks e-mail
attachments that are considered unsafe and HTML content such as
images. In Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), to prevent
malicious scripts from running automatically, plain text mode is also
turned on in Outlook Express.
What is plain text mode?
In Outlook Express, plain text mode lets users display incoming e-mail
messages in plain text instead of in HTML. When Outlook Express runs
in plain text mode, it uses the rich edit control instead of the
MSHTML control. By using the rich edit control, you avoid any security
issues that may result from using the MSHTML control.
Why use plain text mode?
The rich edit control provides an additional barrier to malicious code
that is transmitted using e-mail. Computers that run earlier versions
of Windows XP may be vulnerable to malicious code because Outlook
Express processes HTML header scripts in the HTML content. The MSHTML
control automatically runs these scripts. The rich edit control does
not run HTML scripts. Because plain text e-mail messages do not
require that HTML headers to be displayed correctly, there is
typically almost no visible difference from this change. Parts of
e-mail messages that do not appear to display correctly rely on HTML
rendering and could present a danger to your computer.
What features are not available in plain text mode?
In Windows XP SP2, when you run Outlook Express in plain text mode,
you cannot adjust the size of the message text, and you cannot perform
a full-text search in the body of an e-mail message.
How do I switch between plain text mode and HTML?
If you trust the sender of an e-mail message and you want to use the
additional features that HTML provides, you can switch to HTML mode.
To do this, click Message in HTML on the View menu.
Description of plain text mode in Outlook Express in Windows XP Service Pack 2:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;883257
Hope this answers your questions..Let me know if you needed anything else |
