1. INTRODUCTION
EIES® is a computer-based communication system with many advantages over traditional forms of communications such as telephone and mail. Think of EIES® as an electronic meeting place, post office, and workroom. Thoughts, ideas, and news can be shared with people who are across the street, across the state, or across the country, any time of the day or night. EIES® automatically keeps a written transcript of your meetings and conversations on the system. You can quickly scan through this transcript at any time to find the specific items you need.
Using a personal computer, or computer terminal and a modem you connect to EIES® through your home or office telephone lines, and carry on conversations by typing and reading. Exchange private electronic mail with other EIES® members, and take part in computer conferences the electronic meeting places of EIES®.
Complex projects can be planned with colleagues who are thousands of miles, and several time zones away. Private mail and public announcements can be exchanged. Drafts of documents can be revised instantly and simultaneously by several EIES® collaborators in locations distant from each other.
EIES® saves you valuable time by allowing you to sort the tasks requiring your immediate attention from those tasks that are less urgent.
There are several ways to communicate using EIES®; mainly with mail and conferences. Mail is very similar to the mail you send through the post office. Only the people you send mail to can read it. The recipients can in turn, reply to you through the mail.
Conferences are similar to meeting rooms or classrooms. If someone ‘speaks’ in a conference, all the people in that particular conference can ‘hear’. However, with EIES®, the ‘speaking’ is accomplished through writing and the ‘hearing’ is accomplished through reading.
Conferences are generally used to work on projects or discuss certain topics with a group. Mail is normally used for private discussion between a few members.