All IT students get accounts on the InfoTech FirstClass server, but not everyone knows how to use it effectively. This exercise will take you through some of the key features of the system.

1. Open the FirstClass client software, and make sure that the server field shows “firstclass.it.rit.edu”. Enter your FirstClass user ID and password to login.

2. From the FC Edit menu, select Preferences, and then the Content tab. Change your default font to something a little more readable [I like Verdana 10 pt, myself]. Try creating a new message and typing a few words in the text area. Don’t send it yet, but do close the window using the close box in the top left corner.

3. Now open your Mailbox—you should see the message you just created, and it should have a small white flag next to it. Once you’ve started a message, even if you haven’t entered any information, it does not go away unless you explicitly delete it, and it doesn’t get sent until you click either the send button or the send-and-close button. The white flag shows it’s unsent. See if you can figure out how to delete the message.

4. Open up Conferences, then Course Conferences, then 320 Intro to Multimedia and then the directory specific to this class. Read the message(s) you find there. Reply to the first (oldest) message in the conference (provide content comparable to the original message).

5. Now find the message with files to download. Retrieve those files (either by dragging them to the Mac desktop, or by choosing File-->Save Attachment), then upload them to your FirstClass desktop (by dragging them from the computer's desktop to the FC Desktop window).

6. Ctrl-click (hold down the control key while you click -- this would be a "right click" on a PC) on the welcome message in the conference, and choose History from the pop-up menu. You should see your name in the list of people who’ve read the message. This is useful if you want to see if your instructor or another student has read a message you’ve sent via FC.

7. Find the 320 Intro to Multimedia conference again (the one that has all the sections listed). Ctrl-click (or click-and-hold) on the icon for our section, and select Add to Desktop from the menu. Then close all windows except for your FirstClass desktop—you should now see the conference there. This will make it easier to get to the files for class quickly after logging in.

8. Now, send a message to our class course conference with a tidbit of interesting information about the person you researched last week. (It would be a good idea to mention that person’s name in the message title