How to use the project’s
Exchange messaging environment

One of the resources available on the Transcription Project's NT server is the Microsoft Exchange messaging environment, which allows students and instructors to participate in threaded discussion forums with their classes; to post word-processor, image, and other files for collaborative work; and to engage in other forms of collective work within an environment of "public folders" (to which access can be widened or narrowed as appropriate). If you are a participant in a Transcriptions course that utilizes Exchange, then your instructor will provide you with a userid and password for the system. Your instructor will also likely set up a particular public folder for your class.

Follow the directions below to begin using the system.

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Step 1 Open your Web browser (e.g., Netscape or Internet Explorer, versions 3.0 or greater) and go to the following URL: http://english.ucsb.edu/exchange/ You will see some version of the following logon box (the exact look of the box depends on your browser): Fill in the userid and password supplied to you by the Transcriptions project. Press "okay."

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Step 2 You will next see the following gateway page to the Exchange Server ("Outlook Web Access" designates the Web interface for the Exchange messaging environment, which was originally designed to allow computers on a local area network or LAN to pass messages back and forth). Fill in your Transcriptions userid in the "Log On" slot.

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Step 3 In Netscape (but not in Internet Explorer), there is a glitch at this point. You will get an error message in Netscape saying, "Authorization failed. Retry?" Press "Okay" (retry) and reenter your login information in the "Username and Password Required" box that next appears.

     

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Step 4 You will now see the screen below.

There is a navigation bar in the left-hand frame (#1).

There is a menu bar of common actions in the top frame (#2).

There is a folder or directory tree (#3).

The main frame is open to your individual Exchange e-mail inbox (#4). You can use Exchange e-mail to send messages to others within the Exchange messaging environment by clicking on the first of the icons in the top menu bar (#A, "Compose New Message") and using your addressee's last name for the e-mail address (e.g., "smith"). (If you are unsure of the name, click the "Find Names" icon in the navigation bar [#B]). You can also send e-mail from here to any external e-mail system by clicking on "Compose New Message" and filling in the complete e-mail address of your correspondent (e.g., "ayliu@humanitas.ucsb.edu). Important: However, the English Dept's server is set up so that people from outside the system cannot e-mail a message into your Exchange inbox. Exchange is not configured, in other words, to serve as a replacement for your regular e-mail services; you can send messages internally in the system and from inside to outside, but not from outside to inside.

The real action and substance of the Exchange messaging environment occurs in its Public Folders. Click on the Public Folders icon in the navigation bar (#C).

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Step 5 Once you click on Public Folders in the navigation bar (#C), then you will see a directory of the available public folders for your class in the folder tree. Ignore the "Internet Newsgroups" option, which leads to nothing. Click instead on one of the other available public folders. (For English 188, this is "English 188" (#D).

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Step 6 Once you have selected a particular Public Folder, then the main frame will show you the postings currently available in the folder. In the following example, there is only a single posting (#E). Things you can do from here:

Ø Adjust your "view" of the postings with the drop-down list #F. The options are:

• Messages (all postings ordered by date/time)
• Unread Messages (only postings you haven't opened)
• By Sender (postings organized by sender)
• By Subject (postings organized by subject line in chronological order)
• By Conversation Topic (postings organized by "thread")
• Unread by Conversation Topics (same as above, but with previously read postings filtered out)

Ø Other things you can do:

• Click on #G to send an e-mail to another person either within Exchange or from inside Exchange to an outside e-mail system.
• Click on #H to post a new message to the current folder (or to another folder) on a new topic or "thread."
• Click on #I to create a new sub-folder within the present folder (only the creator or "owner" of such a sub-folder will later be able to delete the folder).

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Step 7 If you click on one of the postings within a folder, then a new, miniature browser window will open showing you the contents of the message.

Click on #J to post a reply to this message in this public folder. Your reply will appear to others as part of the same "thread."

Click on #K to send a private e-mail to the author of the message (within the Exchange environment); or click on #L to forward this message to another individual.

Click on the "X" to delete this message (you can only delete a message from a public folder if you were the author of the message).

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Step 8 When viewing a public folder, you can check the box next to any message(s) that you created (#M) and then click #N in the menu bar to delete that message(s). This only works for messages that you have created yourself.

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Step 9 When you are finished with your session, please click on "Log Off" in the navigation bar (see the screen shot above). This will free system resources for others as well as guard against security problems.

Index of Resources

1. Overview
2. Guides to Readings in Literature and Information Culture
   1. Bookshelf (Brief descriptions and mini-reviews of works in a variety of media that developers of the Transcriptions project or speakers in its colloquium series have been reading. These are the works that are helping to shape the intellectual direction of the Transcriptions project. The Bookshelf is a searchable database.)
   2. Hypertext Literature (annotated catalogue of representative works of hypertext fiction, poetry, and theory in a variety of media, both offline and online works; includes a guide to the Transcription studio's library of publications by the Eastgate company)
3. Guides to Online Research
   1. Online Research Resources (library catalogues, digital text archives, periodical indices, etc.; includes both general-access and UCSB-only resources)
   2. Online Reference Resources (dictionaries, thesauri, atlases, encyclopedias, etc.)
   3. Online Resources for Writing and Speaking (grammer and style guides, writing tips, advice on oral presentations, etc.)
   4. Evaluating & Citing Online Resources (checklists, exercises, examples, and annotated links; also includes a printable form to use in tracking and evaluating online sites)
4. Guides to Technology in Transcriptions Courses
   1. Web-Authoring Basics (basic outline of the process required to download, revise, and upload web pages associated with Transcriptions courses)
   2. Web-Authoring Resources (design and how-to advice for both beginning and advanced Web authors; includes links to HTML and design style guides, help with images, and examples of good and bad design)
   3. Transcriptions Studio Software (catalogue of the major production tools used by Transcriptions with links to resources and tutorials; covers Macromedia's Dreamweaver and Fireworks, Adobe's Photoshop and Illustrator, and Allaire's Homesite programs)
   4. How to Post Messages in the Exchange Messaging Environment (step-by-step guide)
   5. How to Use the Web to Add/Edit Content in the Project's Timeline or Linkbase Databases (step-by-step guide)
5. For Instructors and Developers:
   1. Teaching with Information Technology (annotated links to resources and tools for designing courses utilizing IT; also includes example sites)
   2. Developer Resources for Transcriptions Project (Templates for course and topics pages, Photoshop templates for images, Descriptions of web technology used in HTML design, Cascading Style Sheets [CSS], Server Side Includes [SSI], and relevant information)