COM 125 Week 2: E-mail

The creation of electronic mail or ‘e-mail’ is, to me, one of the most significant inventions of the Internet world. Not only has it reinvented the way we communicate; it has also made efficient the way we did.

E-mail is a natural use of networked communication technology that developed along with the evolution of the Internet. Think standard snail mail on steroids, because that is what e-mail is. Instead of writing a letter by hand, pen and paper, you do it on a computer or in these days, even a mobile phone and at your own convenience. E-mailing a friend or business partner is extremely much more efficient than writing to him. It is also more accessible and cost-efficient than writing a letter – it takes a fraction of the time to send and receive them and practically costs nothing! This way, you’ll never be placed in the annoying situation of being out of envelopes or stamps whenever you want to send a message. E-mail is a form of asynchronous communication, which means that communication does not occur at the same time: the sender sends a message and the recipient reads it at his own convenience. This is especially useful for communicating between long distances and different world time zones.

On the other hand, security and privacy are rather low with e-mail. Although the majority of them are delivered to the correct addressee without intervention, there are certain times that the messages may be intercepted by individuals other than the sender or recipient. This could occur due to an incorrect address, system administrator intervention or maybe even a transmission error. It also happens because ‘e-mail messages are not generally encrypted and have to go through intermediate computers before reaching their destination, meaning it is relatively easy for others to intercept and read the messages,’ as stated by Wikipedia’s Definition of E-mail. Just like everything else, there are pros and cons with e-mail as well.

The Internet we of today are so familiar with is actually using many characteristics inherent of e-mail and since it is a known fact that ‘it actually predates the Internet and was a crucial tool in creating it’ (History of the Internet, Wikipedia), it is only fitting.

These days, most if not all consumer-related websites have a ‘Contact Us’ link on their webpage that upon clicking reveals contact details and sometimes even the address of the company or organization. This trait is very helpful to visitors of the site as it enables them to direct any queries they might have to the company, most of the time via e-mail. Being able to communicate online on different webpages and to groups not only increases interactivity, it also makes the acquisition of information so much easier. Imagine logging on to Apple.com and having a question regarding the Dashboard application. Is it not just remarkable that you can access their support page and post your query to them, before definitely getting a reply?

On to a larger scale, the whole instantaneity of the modern Internet appears to be somewhat similar to its predecessor, e-mail, does it not? Searching for ‘cheap car rentals’ on Google.com and getting almost instant results seems a lot like the almost-immediate response you would get from an e-mail, does it not? Think of hitting the ‘Search’ key as sending an e-mail, and the results you get as the recipient replying your e-mail. They are indeed very similar are they not?

In conclusion, I feel that although the technologies involved with the creation and use of e-mail are many, the main and probably most distinct quality would be its instantaneity. In this day and age where immediacy and speed are synonymous with the Internet, we have but the genius of e-mail to thank, as much as we take it for granted.

So the next time you do a search online, try thinking of it as sending another e-mail.