Electronic Mail

• passive means of communication from the reader's standpoint
• no more secure that a post card
• two basic forms:
  • ad-hoc: one-to-one or one-to-many
  • reflector lists and listservs: one-to-many; some additional features like archiving (e.g. IMMNET-L)
• strengths: easy, flexible, can support non-text transfers if done right
• weaknesses: insecure without heroics, hard to control junk mail
• good for collaboration, weak for publication