Com125 Assignment2: You've Got Mail!

I believe one of the biggest revolutions in the Internet is the invention of e-mail. E-mail enabled people to share and exchange information quicker then ever imagined. No longer does one have to rely on the postal system or have to make individual phone calls in order to contact people or to share information. Today, e-mail is the most widely used application on the Internet. 

According to Dave Crocker, in 1971, Tomlinson developed the first ARPANET e-mail application when he updated SNDMSG by adding a program called CPYNET which was capable of copying files over the network. Tomlinson put together the user and host names, "user@host" for example, in order to extend the addressing to the network. he was able to establish the basic transactional model that still defines what e-mail is today. 

However, at the time that these breakthroughs in innovation were taking place, not many people even knew anything about the Internet let alone how to send e-mails. The Internet was strictly a medium used by those scientifically inclined to know about it. In order for e-mail to become more mainstream, like the Internet, it needed to become more user friendly. According to Richard T. Griffiths of Leiden University, the following innovations were developed in order to establish e-mail as the commonly used application that it is today. First, there was a listing of messages, indexed according to subject and date. Next, came the ability to selectively delete messages. Followed by, the ability to receive and send mail from the same program. Previously, there were two different programs needed in order to send and receive e-mails . Next game the ability to forward messages, which automatically included the senders address in the message. Finally, came the ability to file and save messages and  a standard protocol to allow the exchange of messages between programs. 

A single e-mail with important information could now be sent throughout an entire company in seconds. I think e-mail has had both positive and negative effects on the work environment. on one hand e-mail enables everyone within a company to receive and share information very efficiently. This is good because it enables everyone within an organization to have a voice, expressing his or her ideas, inputs and goals for an organization. This generates new innovative ideas and collaborations within a company. If everyone has the ability to make suggestions the company has a better chance of success. On the other hand, e-mail eliminates the need to communicate face-to-face. This medium makes the workplace less personal. One becomes simply a number or an e-mail address instead of an identity with a personality, a face and a name. No longer do you have to actually know your fellow co-workers in order to share ideas with them. I find this to be one negative aspect of the e-mail revolution. I feel that it is important to establish relationships with your co-workers. This enables work to be more enjoyable, and I think it is important for one to look forward to going to work each day. 

Aside from the business environment, e-mail has enabled people to keep in touch that normally might have drifted apart. In the very fast passed lifestyle of the U.S. today, not many people have the time to cal someone to see how life is going for them. However, shooting someone a quick e-mail just so say hello is something one can do while at work and it only takes a few minutes.