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A fax machine is a device which looks a bit like a printer with a number pad for dialling telephone numbers. It includes a scanner within it. A 2D document can be fed through the fax machine and sent electronically via a telephone line to another fax machine which will print the document. The quality of the document received will be considerably less than the quality of the original document. The cost of sending a fax is the same as the cost of a phone call for the same duration.

The main advantage of fax machines is that documents can be sent almost instantaneously to a recipient. However, confidentiality can not be assured as the document is likely to be received at a fax machine in a shared office area. There is much debate as to whether a faxed document is legally binding. Some court cases have deemed faxed contracts to have been effectively delivered in writing and are thus legally binding, but there is no specific law that confirms that faxed documents form a legally binding contract.

Typical uses include sending:

advertising material to potential customers

draft copies of contracts

directions including pre-drawn or hand-drawn maps

printed diagrams.

Facilities of a fax machine include the ability to:

send and receive 2D documents

sent to multiple recipients using auto-dial

receive faxed documents automatically

block unrecognised callers

produce a delivery receipt

produce a summary of all faxes sent and received over a period of time.

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Email is by far the most popular method of communication in the developed world. Messages and attached files can be sent to one or multiple recipients and are received almost instantaneously if the recipient is logged on. Confidentiality can be maintained as the recipient must log on to read the email. Unlike faxed documents, quality is not lost as documents are sent as digital attachments which are received in exactly the same electronic format as they were sent. The cost of sending emails is almost zero on the assumption that a broadband connection is used.

A similar debate exists about legally binding contracts as with faxed documents. UK law allows for electronic signatures to be used, but they must be recognised in law. The requirements of electronic signatures under the Electronic Communications Act are very complex and so while it is possible to use emails as contractual documents, they should not be relied on for this purpose.

Emails are no longer confined to being sent and received from computers. Mobile phones and email-enables landline telephones are able to send and receive emails. Cable television providers offer email services through the television using a digi-box.

Typical uses include sending:

advertising material to potential customers

newsletters to members of an organisation

messages to friends and family

documents to suppliers and clients.

Facilities of email include the ability to:

send and receive messages

send messages to multiple recipients at once

use an address book

include an electronic signature

send attachments

reply directly to received emails

forward received emails to other recipients

request a read receipt

filter out junk email

encryption.

Many email systems include a personal calendar and task management facilities.

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Bulletin boards enable people to discuss topics with other people who are interested in the same topic. This may be for leisure purposes or business reasons. Users post messages on the discussion bard, usually asking a question, and other users can respond. A discussion board has the structure shown in the diagram below.

The discussion board is the whole discussion website (e.g. Microsoft Office). Forums are the subjects of discussion (e.g. Microsoft Word). Threads are the topics of discussion (e.g. "Using mail merge with Word"). Posts are the individual posts (e.g. "I am trying to perform a mail merge using Microsoft Word. How do I view the mail merge toolbar?")

Typical uses include discussing:

computer games

software applications

political issues

educational issues.

Facilities of discussion boards include the ability to:

post new messages

create new threads

read messages that have been posted

search discussion boards for specific information

subscribe to threads and forums so that new posts are sent by email

find out about other users' public profiles.

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Teleconferencing and video conferencing enable communication between groups of people to take place. Teleconferencing enables participants to talk to each other. Video conferencing includes the ability for participants to see each other while they talk.

Typical uses include:

meetings (so that travel costs and travel time can be eliminated)

lessons (for example a Russian language lesson that could be shared among four schools who each only have one or two students opting for that subject)

virtual museum visits for schools

social chat in lieu of a phone call.

Facilities of tele and video conferencing include:

multiple participation by two or more locations

ability to hear all participants

shared whiteboard where ideas can be brain stormed and discussed

shared applications, such as presentations software or word processing software, so that documents can be shared

being able to dial a number to make a call

being able to receive a call manually or automatically.

Facilities of video conferencing only:

ability to see all participants

ability to control your own camera (pan and zoom) and sometimes control the remote camera.

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Typical uses include:

sharing ideas with colleagues

social communication.

Facilities of IRC include:

two or more people can communicate using text

seeing what other participants have written

keeping logs of conversations

sending files within a conversation

the use of emoticons

being able to invite somebody else to an existing conversation

blocking users that you do not want to communicate with

setting a status such as 'online', 'away', or 'busy'.

Some IRC software includes basic tele and video conferencing facilities. A typical example is MSN Messenger.