Email is provided centrally via OUCS. Email can be accessed via a web-based interface, which is accessible from anywhere in the world, or via email client software such as Outlook and Thunderbird, which is specific to each client computer.
All members of Department must have a University e-mail SSO (single sign-on) account and should use their University email address for university correspondence. Undergraduate students are registered by their colleges and have a college address (in the form firstname.lastname@college.ox.ac.uk). Postgraduate students have a college address (in the form firstname.lastname@college.ox.ac.uk) plus a Department address (firstname.lastname@materials.ox.ac.uk) and both addresses are delivered to the same account. Department staff without College affiliation just have a Department address (firstname.lastname@materials.ox.ac.uk). University email addresses can be looked-up using the Oxford University contact search web-page.
Contact registration@oucs.ox.ac.uk if you have any queries about your email addresses such as wanting to have aliases set up to reflect the name by which you are more commonly known (for example Tom instead of Thomas).
It is most likely that you will check e-mail from your own computer or a general computer provided within your group. However, there are many terminals provided in the Computing Services building (13 Banbury Road). You can also use the department facilities such as the teaching laboratory computer suite , the computers in the Library, or the general use computer in Begbroke (upstairs in Hirsch South Extension).
Department Mail Server
The default mailserver for members of this department is still via OUCS. However the Department of Materials recently (in 2007) started offering an email repository for 'heavy users' to store large amounts of old email messages on a central server, rather than on your local computer. Contact department IT staff to request an account.
Email Etiquette
A review of problems with email communications within the department has highlighted the following areas:
- Please write messages clearly and concisely. A lot of time is wasted scanning messages for key facts.
- Please do not blindly forward messages without first editing the content to be clear and concise and to take account of the new intended recipient(s).
- Please avoid using attachments for simple information.
- Please avoid using formatted text. (Note that many browsers can be incorrectly configured to automatically send all messages as formatted text which then appears as an attachment to some people. People encountering these problems should alert either IT staff or the senders who are probably unaware of the problem.)
- MOST people can cope with Word attachments, but for some users this requires several minutes of messing around since not everyone uses a PC/Mac with MSWord to read their mail. Please be considerate. (Very large attachments >5Mb should be distributed as a link using the webupload facility)
- Most people ignore automatic requests for notification or receipt, so do not use them! If you require confirmation of receipt, ask for one in the message.
- Please use vacation message settings if you are not checking mail for more than a couple of days. It helps people know that they are not going to get a reply to their urgent message. However spammers do use vacation messages as confirmation that their address lists are valid.
- Please would Admin Staff / Committee Chairmen try to avoid duplication of circulations by both email and paper, or at least notify if paper copy will follow the email.
- Ignore / immediately delete unsolicited junk mail or financial scams. See advice on automatic filtering of junkmail
- Hoax virus notification messages are common. Do NOT follow 'disinfection' instructions unless you are sure of the authenticity of the advice. If unsure forward the message to a member of IT staff
- Please note that Department Mailists are intended for circulating information relevant to the department. They should not be used for advertisements or personal messages without prior authorization.
Users may also like to read the OUCS email netiquette.
