EMFA: T1E2 - Universal email *is* important - Miller

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Theme: Universal E-Mail - Essay 2
Author: Steven E. Miller
E-mail: miller@massed.net

[Steve E. Miller is the author of "Civilizing Cyberspace: 
Policy, Power, and the Information Superhighway." 
(Addison-Wesley, 1997)]



Universal email *is* important.  Individually, the dilution of
family and friendship circles makes the intimacy of personal
connection a pressing emotional need.  Socially, the emaciation
of civic associations makes community creation through discovery
of common interests a vital cultural need.  Economically, the
growing mobility of capital makes the cultivation of more
technically literate workers a desperate need.

Text-based email allows us to achieve the core of each of these
activities and needs.

Network connections facilitate communication, cooperation,
information sharing, and commerce.  While higher bandwidth
telecommunications does bring additional capabilities, it is
mostly used simply to add "sizzle to the steak."  Animated
websites, full-motion video, etc. are engaging and commercially
useful.  But despite all the ways they can also enhance socially
beneficial activities, the truth is that much of that benefit can
be achieved with email alone.

Fortunately, the private sector's pursuit of high bandwidth
networks for commercial purposes makes it economical and possible
for public policy to demand that these firms provide universal
email as a condition of doing business.  In a multi-media world,
text requires a minute amount of bandwidth -- so little that it
can piggy-back for free.  As the bible commands us to leave the
corners for the field for the poor, so we can demand that
commercial networks give to society the relatively trivial
resources needed for universal email.

But universal email requires more than having an Internet
Account.  It also requires:

     *  Access -- providing a connection for everyone who wants
to plug in, with sufficient capacity for meaningful two-way 
transmission, so that people are not excluded because of their 
rural, urban, or other location.

     *  Usability -- creating an interactive device and 
interface, with sufficient power and flexibility to be usable by 
people desiring to either produce or consume information for a 
wide variety of purposes, so that people are not excluded 
because of equipment inadequacies or personal disability.

     *  Training -- providing adequate training and support in a
way that is sensitive to people's backgrounds and integrated 
into the institutional context of their everyday lives, so that 
people are not excluded because of lack of skills.

     *  Purpose -- making sure that the system can be used to
accomplish personally and socially meaningful tasks for most of 
our population, so that people are not excluded because of the
system's inability to meet their needs.

     *  Affordability -- making sure that the system is 
generally affordable and cost effective relative to other 
alternatives, so that people are not excluded because of lack of 
wealth.

Finally, while it is true that universal email will have a
positive impact on many aspects of our lives, we should never
sucker ourselves into the delusion that it will "solve" the basic
issues.  The big issues are inequality and the weakening of
social bonds.   We must find ways to shape our societal
environment in ways that reduce individualizing stress, encourage
mutual aid, and support cooperative activities.  For this, email
is just a helpful tool.
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