Agewell Computer Club at The Lawns.

A course for Agewell beginners: Email Essentials with Henry.

Agewell super-volunteer Henry has been persuaded to lead a five-week email course at The Lawns.

When, exactly.

• Five Tuesday afternoons, 2.30 to 5 pm.
• Started: Tuesday 31 January 2012.
• Ends: Tuesday 28 February 2012.
• Enrolment finished: Tuesday 24 January –
  the course is now full.

Course Content.

A course for Agewell beginners: Email Essentials with Henry.

Agewell super-volunteer Henry has been persuaded to lead a five-week email course at The Lawns.

When, exactly.

• Five Tuesday afternoons, 2.30 to 5 pm.
• Started: Tuesday 31 January 2012.
• Ends: Tuesday 28 February 2012.
• Enrolment finished: Tuesday 24 January –
  the course is now full.

Course Content.

Agewell Community Computing:
Tuesday 24 January 2012 (2.30 to 5 pm).

About Soundcloud.

Soundcloud is a way of recording sound directly from your computer to the Internet, and then sharing the audio file with your friends, family, or (if you want to) everybody. It’s free, very easy to use, and perfect for sending spoken messages across the Internet.

At the workshop, you will learn how to …

Here’s an example Soundcloud audio.

This YouTube video explains a bit more.

Agewell Community Computing:
Tuesday 17 January 2012 (2.30 to 5 pm).

About PDF.

PDF means Portable Document Format. PDF documents have been part of Internet everyday life since 1993. They are all over the World Wide Web, and frequently appear in the email inbox – but few of our members know what they are, what to do with them, or how to make them.

Here is an example of a PDF document. Click on this link » Agewell Computer Club January 2012 «. Most links open a web page, but that link opens a document. Unlike a web page, a PDF document should always look exactly the same – whatever kind of computer you are using.

Most people read PDF documents with free software from Adobe. It is often already installed on new computers.

At the workshop, you will learn …

Workshop: Tuesday 22 November 2011 (3.30 to 5 pm).

In a nutshell.

This is for everyone who has an email address at seniors.org.uk, bold.org.uk, gmail.com, googlemail.com. Your webmail system is going to get a visual makeover from Google. It might please you or confuse you. Come and find out.

What it’s about.

Users of Gmail/Googlemail and Google Apps email (eg: seniors.org.uk and bold.org.uk) have probably noticed suggestions that they ‘switch to the new look’. We suggest that before you switch, you come to this workshop.

The gmail ‘new look’ is very sophisticated, and no doubt a big step in the right direction for experienced email users. For new learners and beginners, it is likely to be massively confusing. We have examined the ‘new look’ and concluded that many of our members would be better off moving in the opposite direction, back to what Google calls ‘Basic HTML’.

Workshop: Tuesday 8 November 2011 (3.30 to 5 pm).

This ‘email surgery’ workshop is something we do at least twice a year. The last time was in April. It will be an opportunity for everyone (including beginners) to get answers to their email questions. Here are some example questions we will probably deal with (because they have been asked already) …

• How can I attach a photograph when I send an email?
  (The most frequently-asked email question).
• How can I download and save attachments?
  (It’s easy!)
• How can I find a particular email?
  (Learn how to label your email or make folders).
• How can I search my email?
  (Did you know your email system has a built-in search?)
• How can I manage large quantities of email?
  (Email systems have been designed to hold thousands of messages for years – you can avoid clutter without deleting).
• How can I change my email password?
  (It’s a good idea to do this regularly – we will show you how to do it).

At the workshop, we will try to deal with general principles as well as your specific problems – so you should leave with a better understanding of how email works, not just what buttons to click in your own email system.

Workshop: Tuesday 13 September 2011 (3 to 4.30 pm).

For the next couple of months we want to pay a lot more attention to how our service users are getting on with email. Many of our members have no problem at all – but we know that there are some who have the greatest difficulty understanding what they are supposed to do, and a lot more who just muddle through. The problem has nothing to do with the abilities of our members. The heart of the problem is the poor design of the ‘webmail’ systems that most of our members use. This workshop will be our first attempt to find a satisfactory access to email, especially for new learners.

About Red Stamp Mail.

• Red Stamp Mail is a method of using your existing email account in a more friendly way.
• It has been designed specifically for older people who want to access their existing email account on the World Wide Web, but would like a simpler and more respectful interface – with no ads, irritating widgets, popups or irrelevant screen clutter – just the email and nothing else.
• It is very suitable for anyone who does not have the time, patience or inclination to deal with the unhelpful complexity and commercially-driven design of current webmail systems.
• It works very well.
• It is not free – but nor is it very expensive – about £11.10 per year at current (September 2011) exchange rates.
• Red Stamp Mail offer a free 30-day trial period with no obligations or upfront payments.

For a bit more information, read …

• The Red Stamp Mail FAQ page.
• Our document ‘A first look at Red Stamp Mail’ (PDF, 167 kb) at
  http://net.seniors.org.uk/img/first-look-at-red-stamp-mail.pdf .

At the workshop.

We are asking workshop participants to pioneer and test Red Stamp Mail as an appropriate email system for all our members – especially new learners. Rick has been testing Red Stamp Mail for ten months, and is personally satisfied that it is what new learners need – but now we need your input. Even if you are happy with your default webmail system, you will probably be interested in this attempt to make life easier for people who are frustrated.

This is what we would like you to do at the  workshop …

• Sign up for the free 30-day Red Stamp Mail trial (very easy, with no obligation).
• Start using it, and (if you like it) carry on using it until your free trial period expires.
• Test how easy it is for you to send and receive email, deal with attachments and use your contacts list.

After the workshop.

At the end of the trial period, you might want to revert to your original email system (all the email you have sent or received will be there, intact), or you might choose to carry on using Red Stamp Mail.

Red Stamp Mail costs US$18 per year (about £11.10 at current exchange rates). For most of our members, the cost is not prohibitive, but they have no way of paying it. So, if you would like to keep your Red Stamp Mail account, but cannot use Paypal – we will collect the cash from you directly, and pay for your account using our own method.

Changes for seniors.org.uk webmail.

On Monday 23 May 2011, Google began making significant improvements to its Google Apps email system. Our seniors.org.uk email is a Google Apps email service – so if you are a seniors.org.uk user, you have probably noticed some changes.

The webmail transition.

Google’s explanation of the transition is not easy to understand. Briefly – they want you to know that seniors.org.uk email will behave more like regular googlemail in future – and, if you are accessing seniors.org.uk email with a web browser – it will look more like regular googlemail too.

This transition is mainly going to affect businesses that provide their staff with Google Apps mail – limiting what employees can do with their business email addresses. It also provides a bit more privacy by restricting what Google Apps administrators can do – especially allowing third-party applications to access user data.

Privacy.

Seniors.org.uk has never allowed third-party access to your data, and the administrators are people you know: Rick Crust and Michael Townsend – AgeUK Hackney staff members.  Rick and Michael have admin access to create new seniors.org.uk email addresses, suspend unused addresses, and change passwords when requested. Nobody else has access to the admin side of seniors.org.uk.

Changes to your access to seniors.org.uk webmail.

The seniors.org.uk home page now looks like the image on the right here.

You have two sign in choices …

• Sign in with your username.
  Use this link if you want to carry on signing in the way you have always signed in – with your username only. It’s the most friendly and simple way to sign in, and is not going to disappear. You can still go directly to this page by entering mail.seniors.org.uk in your browser web address bar.
• Sign in with your email address.
  Use this link if you want to sign in from the same page that you see when you sign out. The only sign in difference is that your username must be followed by @seniors.org.uk.

Our recommendation: try them both – it will be obvious immediately what the difference is.

Changes to seniors.org.uk webmail usage.

So far we have noticed only two important differences …

• The ‘Sign out’ button will still be top right, but placed inconveniently inside a drop-down menu (see the image here on the right). To sign out, you must click on your email address in the top right corner, then move your pointer down to the ‘Sign out’ menu item.
• After signing out as a webmail user, you will not be returned automatically to the mail.seniors.org.uk page, where you sign in with only your username. Instead you will see a general-purpose gmail login, where you are expected to enter your full email address.

Not a webmail user?

If you access your seniors.org.uk email with a conventional desktop email program (for example – Windows Mail, Outlook, or Thunderbird), there is no change for you to notice. But if you ever want to sign in as a webmail user, you will be asked to accept the transition.

What to do.

If you have not logged into your seniors.org.uk webmail since May 2011, you will see a confusing screen before you get to your Inbox. It asks you to accept these changes by clicking on a button like the one you see here on the right. We recommend that you click on it to accept.

Workshop: Tuesday 31 May 2011 (3 to 4.30 pm).

This is a workshop for everybody who has an email address at googlemail.com, gmail.com, or either of the two Google Apps email addresses that we give to our service users – seniors.org.uk and bold.org.uk.

Until 23 May 2011, the Google Apps email systems were simplified versions of standard googlemail. Now Google has made them almost identical, and there is nothing we can do about it (see our May 21 post ‘New look for seniors.org.uk webmail’). To be fair, the transition coincides with many improvements to all versions of googlemail. So on the whole, it is an improvement for everybody. But we anticipate much confusion when people sign in for the first time after the transition, and when they sign out again.

At the workshop, we will explain Google’s transition – what has changed, what you need to know, distribute new handouts (if we get them done in time), explain why we think the new system is better (despite the temporary sign-in/sign-out inconvenience), and answer your questions.

Also on the same day …

• Drop-in from 1.30 to 4.30 pm, as usual.
• First Click course for new beginners, 1.15 to 2.45 pm.

Workshop: Tuesday 5 April 2011 (3 to 4.30 pm).

This workshop will be an opportunity for everyone (including beginners) to get answers to their email questions. Here are some example questions we will probably deal with (because they have been asked already) …

• How can I download and save attachments?
  (It’s easy!)
• How can I manage large quantities of email?
  (Email systems have been designed to hold thousands of messages for years – you can avoid clutter without deleting).
• How can I find a particular email?
  (Learn how to label your email or make folders).
• How can I search my email?
  (Did you know your email system has a built-in search?)
• How can I change my email password?
  (It’s a good idea to do this regularly – we will show you how to do it).
• Do I have to read my email on the World Wide Web?
  (Using a web browser to read your email is common, but it’s not the most convenient way for everybody – we will show you some alternative ways you might think are better for you).

At the workshop, we will try to deal with general principles as well as your specific problems – so you should leave with a better understanding of how email works, not just what buttons to click in your own email system.

Also on the same day …

• Drop-in from 1.30 to 4.30 pm, as usual.
• First Click course for new beginners, 1.15 to 2.45 pm.

Workshop: Tuesday 29 March 2011 (3 to 4.30 pm).

This is another ‘popular request’ workshop! Our purpose will be to help you answer this perennial question …

So it will be more than yet another ‘email attachments’ workshop. The problem that people have with email attachments is the same as the problem they have getting a profile photo to Facebook and other web sites.

This workshop will be suitable for anyone who has an email address, including beginners. We will provide plenty of images to experiment with – but if you have a photo that you want to attach to an email or upload to a web site, please bring it on a flash drive.

Also on the same day …

• Exercise session for computer users, 12 to 1 pm.
• Drop-in from 1.30 to 4.30 pm, as usual.
• First Click course for new beginners, 1.15 to 2.45 pm.

Workshop: Tuesday 25 January 2011 (3 to 4.30 pm).

We haven’t had an email workshop since April 2010. We get asked more questions about email than anything else, so it’s about time we had another one. This workshop will not be advanced – it will be for beginners, and others who feel they are not quite on top of it all.

At the workshop, we will try to deal with general principles as well as specific problems raised by participants – so they should leave with a better understanding of how email works, not just what buttons to click in their own email system.

We will be demonstrating email with the seniors.org.uk email package that most new Agewell Computer Club members use. People with email addresses at gmail.com (or googlemail.com) will be OK with what they have. Others – we will set you up with a seniors.org.uk email account.

Also on the same day …

• Drop-in from 1.30 to 4.30 pm, as usual.
• Our new First Click course for beginners (session 2) will start at 1.15 pm and end at 2.45 pm.

Workshop: 26 April 2010 (3.00 – 5.30 pm).

Note the new opening and closing times – we have shifted forward 30 minutes to avoid confusion when the morning ‘Personal Best’ class ends at 2.30 pm.

Our third April session will carry on from the previous two – more email workshop. That’s by popular demand and insistence.

We will have an informal workshop in the teaching area where we will answer any questions you bring, while the front area will be available for ACC drop-in.

We will, of course, look at attachments again if that is what you want.

ACC members can reserve places on this workshop by asking us directly, or by sending an email to acc@lawns.org.uk (if you don’t trust your own email skills, please ask for help).

We will be demonstrating email with the seniors.org.uk email package that most new members learn with. People with email addresses at gmail.com (or googlemail.com) will be OK with what they have. Others – we will set you up with a seniors.org.uk email account.

Workshop: 15 February 2010 (2.30 – 5 pm).

At this workshop we will try to …

• Make sure we all know what email actually is.
• Think about the importance of email in the world we live in now.
• Look at how Agewell Computer Club members use email to keep in close touch with all their family and friends, wherever they live.
• Show you how to read, send and reply to email messages.
• Show you how to save ‘attachments’ that have been sent to you.
• Show you how to send attachments to your own emails.
• Show you how to manage ‘address books’ and contact lists.

Please bring your own questions to the workshop.

ACC members can reserve places on these workshops by asking us directly, or by sending an email to acc@lawns.org.uk (if you don’t trust your own email skills, please ask for help).

We will be demonstrating email with the seniors.org.uk email package that most new members learn with. People with email addresses at gmail.com, googlemail.com, or bold.org.uk will be OK. Others should definitely try to reserve a place, as we have to create a seniors.org.uk address for you in advance of the workshop.