ucslteam_emailsupport

=UC Second Life Project Team - E-mail Support=

The e-mail address for the UC Second Life Project, secondlife@uc.edu, is used for many different purposes, including customers' inquiries and requests for support. This e-mail address is also "cabon copied" (cc:) any time a user creates a Second Life account through our website, or when web services related to the project send or receive messages (such as when a new person follows UCSecondLife on Twitter).

It may take some time before you are familiar with the various kinds of communications that come into secondlife@uc.edu but when you have received training and approval from the project manage you will be able to respond to most questions that come to the support alias. The information below will help you become familiar with the processes we use to respond to various types of e-mail.

1. Create a Gmail Account for your UC Second Life work
Visit http://gmail.com and create a new account with an e-mail address that is the first and last name of your Second Life avatar in the format first.last@gmail.com, for example fleep.tuque@gmail.com.

Be sure to enter your gmail e-mail address in the accounts section of the Work Schedules page on this wiki.

2. Get added to the secondlife@uc.edu e-mail alias
E-mail the project manager from your gmail account to let her know it has been created. The project manager will add your e-mail address to the secondlife@uc.edu e-mail alias and send you a confirmation message.

3. Set up Gmail to send mail from the UC Second Life Project
You cannot begin this process until your new e-mail address has been added to secondlife@uc.edu alias (Step 2 above), so be sure to look for your confirmation e-mail from the project manager before beginning this step.


 * Go to your Gmail inbox page and click the "Settings" link on the upper right side of the page.
 * Click the "Accounts & Import" link at the top of the Settings page.
 * Under the "Send Mail As:" section, click the "Send mail from another address" button.
 * In the window that pops up, enter the Name UC Second Life Project and the e-mail address secondlife@uc.edu . Click the "Next Step" button.
 * The next window will ask you to verify your access to secondlife@uc.edu. Click the "Send Verification" button.
 * You will receive an e-mail message to the secondlife@uc.edu e-mail alias with your verification code. Paste that code into the verification window provided by Gmail and you are all set!

1. Respond to e-mail within 24 hours during regular business days
All e-mail messages requesting support or assistance should be answered within 24 hours during the normal business week. Until you have received approval from the project manager, have her review and approve your e-mail responses before sending them to the customers.

2. Send replies from the UC Second Life Project e-mail address, and bcc: ("blind carbon copy") the alias
Use the "UC Second Life Project" address in your Gmail client for all messages you send to, from, or about the UC Second Life project. Always bcc: the secondlife@uc.edu e-mail address in your messages so that everyone on the team can see when and how a message has been answered.

3. Use a Standard Signature
All correspondence related to the UC Second Life project should include a standard signature in the following format:

Your Name (SL: Your Avatar's First and Last Names) UC Second Life Project UCit Instructional & Research Computing University of Cincinnati 406E Zimmer Hall PO Box 210088 Cincinnati, OH 45221-0088 (513) 556-8562 Email: secondlife@uc.edu Web: UC Second Life: []

On your computer desktop, you may want to create a notepad file that contains this signature, customized with your real and Second Life names, for easy copy and pasting. Unfortunately, Gmail does not allow you to set an automatic signature for some e-mail and not other. If you ONLY use your Gmail account for UC Second Life Project work, you can set up an automatic signature in the Settings area, but if you use your gmail account for both work and personal correspondence, you will need to manually paste the signature at the end of your messages from the UC Second Life Project team.

4. E-mail Requiring No Further Action
Some e-mail sent to secondlife@uc.edu requires no response on our part. Some examples of messages that usually do not require a response include the following:


 * **Account Creation Notification -** Every time a user creates a new Second Life account through our website, we receive a receipt of the transaction. In the past, we had to manually enroll the user in the "University of Cincinnati Affiliated" group in Second Life, but now the registration process does this for us. As of this writing, these receipts are merely informational and let us know when new accounts have been created. We are not required to take any action.


 * **Twitter Notifications - Follow Notices -** The UCSecondLife twitter account receives a notice whenever a new person follows the account. This e-mail from twitter requires no action.


 * **Group Invitations from Second Life -** Several administrative accounts in Second Life are used to manage functions and activities on our virtual campus. These SL accounts have the secondlife@uc.edu e-mail address listed in their profiles, and from time to time we will receive a notice from Second Life when one of these accounts is invited to join a group or a class. These notices require no action.