6. Online communication tools

**By Andrea Bolinelli Aguiar**

Among the very basic communication tools available in any online environment, we have:
**WEBSITES**– so-called spaces on a computer and the Internet where people put information about themselves, their interests, services and businesses. In other words, website or ‘www’ or ‘World Wide Web’ originated an electronic brochure available to the whole world 24 hours a day. Within the website, each screen full of information is called a page, which may contain text, graphic images, photographs, or sound and video. "Links" embedded within a page transport viewers to other pages, which allow users to decide the order they want to see the pages by clicking the links that interest them. Modern websites are not longer only presentational, i.e. “brochures or magazines-like”, but create a fully interactive and personalized virtual information resources (more at Web 2.0).
**EMAIL**
– a shorthand term from Electronic Mail, which is being exchanged trough the Internet (TCP/IP protocol suite). Once created an email address with any Internet Service Provider, you are able to communicate, receive news, send files and transfer photos within seconds to any part of the world. Email is widely used also for public communication, mainly in mailing lists. A typical email address has two parts your user name and domain/server name, separated by “@” email symbol (for example, yourname@domain.com )
**FORUM** or message board allows users to post questions or discussion topics and invite the respective community to react. People reply to the original message or reply to previous answers within the same website or discussion space, and this way they build a discussion.
Forums can be public or restricted to members of a certain community. In most cases, replying or posting new forum threads requires you to be logged in. Usually, forums are moderated by an administrator who watches over guideline and policy violations and tries to keep the discussion reasonable.

**CHAT**
is an interactive online space or a website, where all participants get together at the same time and using the same form send each other public or private messages that are being screened as a list of posts on one page. Once you login in into a chat, you are able to read messages live and write to one or all participants a message reacting to ongoing discussion or inviting to start a new one.
**MAILING LIST**is a virtual email group of people gathered together through subscribing to one email address. Once a message sent by any of the participants to the common email, it is being forwarded automatically to the whole group subscribed. Mailing lists are mainly used as a mass information or networking tool. When you post anything it goes around to everyone and everyone’s reply is being sent to the rest of the group.

**NEWSLETTERS**are very similar to mailing lists, however, support only one way communication: one author sends a message to an unlimited number of people, who are voluntarily subscribed to one email address (for example, you receive newsletters as updates from your school or university, or if you are subscribed to any news website).

With the development of technology, both websites, communication platforms and messaging opportunities were greatly extended. Networking and using video in communication found its place and became possible to be used by everyone.
**VIDEO-CONFERENCES**are online interactive spaces, login to which allows users to chat though messages or have voice conversations using a microphone and a web-camera. Video conferences allow its participants to see each other online in live regime and communicate to each other as though a video-phone.
**INSTANT MESSENGERS (IM)**
are free communication software that normally requires creating an account and a nickname. Communicators are widely used to have private chats in a form of messaging, video and file exchange or phone services. Several of new IM’s support conferencing (chats for more than two people) and let you call landlines worldwide.
**WEB 2.0**
has emerged a new vision and approach from developing technology into more interactive and communicational. Magazine-like websites were replaced with dynamic, interactive online spaces where not only authors but also visitors can contribute widely and help building the website and shape the content. It was done so by providing users with opportunity to register and become a co-author or editor on the website, receive tools to add new content and share it with your friends and colleagues. In addition, to a stronger security of the web, visitors can now post and discuss on the posted by others imagines (Flickr), blogs (Live Journal), videos (Youtube) and interesting facts and news (Wikipedia).
**SOCIAL NETWORKS**
has emerged from understanding that active online users might want to be connected virtually and keep in permanent touch with each other sharing life updates, news, interests and etc. Profiles, or in other words - virtual personal pages that help you to learn about each other were set up in many websites and linked together with inner chats, messaging and additional features, such as video, music, and photo sharing, groups by interests, schooling and work, and etc. Some social networks are specifically set by interests, for example – those who love music and design go to MySpace, a more students network is offered at Facebook, alumni and former graduates often keep in touch through Classmates.com.