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- - E-Mail for All - - - EMFA-EVENT - - - Universal Access - -
Universal E-mail - General Comments #1
The following messages are included in this digest:
1. Mitch Gould - Universal Access Implies Ease of Use
2. Virginia L. Ballarin - Argentina University Connections
3. Gary Wilson - Wanting to Use E-mail
4. George Klinck Clarke - E-Mail for the wealthy
5. Jeffrey Hart - Question Responses
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[1]
From: Mitch Gould <mitchgould@generalpicture.com>
Name: Mitch Gould
Title/Organization: human factors engineer/General Picture
E-Mail Address: mitchgould@generalpicture.com
Web Address: http://www.generalpicture.com
Location/Country Forest Grove, OR 97116
"Universal Access Implies Ease of Use"
Something other than the cost of a personal computer prevents
some people from Internet access, namely, the difficulty of
using PCs. In order to enter commands and make selections in
windowing operating systems, one must learn to use the mouse and
the keyboard. Then, to make sense of the display, one must
understand how to use icons, how to navigate file systems, how
to manage and resize windows, etc.
The sheer magnitude of the usability barrier that all these
factors conspire to create is well known in the human-factors
community, but not universally recognized. Educators,
journalists, and policy-makers often assume that owning and
using a PC is just another cultural phenomenon that, like the
telephone, will eventually encompass all homeowners. But the
population actually consists of a wide diversity of cognitive
styles, so universal access will not be possible until we make
browsing the web and sending e-mail simpler--and more
cognitively consistent.
WebTV(TM) provided a good start towards the aim of universal
connectivity, largely achieving its goal of getting plenty of
ordinary consumers online. But it failed to make universal
access possible partly because it failed to address the
usability barrier of the QWERTY keyboard and it was still a bit
complicated to use.
Smart people will demand smart appliances. They will expect:
1. More powerful, intuitive, and above all, unified ways to
filter both web searches and e-mail.
2. Keyboards and voice-input devices that assist the user in
formulating search queries (for example, autocomplete of
search terms).
3. Memory of past sessions and preferences that is actively
employed to streamline the current session.
4. Voice-mail alternatives to written mail.
In conclusion, universal access implies ease of use. We can't
offer that today, but technologically, the pieces of the puzzle
are ready for assembly.
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[2]
From: vballari@fi.mdp.edu.ar (Virginia L. Ballarin)
Virginia L. Ballarin
Electronic Engineer and Ms. in Science,
Researcher and Professor at the National University in
Mar del Plata, Argentina
E-Mail Address: vballari@fi.mdp.edu.ar
Mar del Plata, Argentina (400 hundred kilometers south from
Buenos Aires)
Our University is just connected to Internet not much
time ago. For us it was a very big change. Everything takes a
lot of time to arrive to our country, magazines, books etc. But
it is as fast to communicate to any country as it for everybody
in the first world. For the people that work with teaching and
research it is really a big change. I began to work with people
from other countries in this way.
I am also writing my thesis about the Internet, it is
titled "The Internet: a new Social Space?" But it is written in
Spanish, that is the reason I don't sent you anything about it.
But I wanted to be present in the event.
"Saludos" from this distant country,
Virginia L. Ballarin
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[3]
From: gwilson@juno.com
Wanting to Use E-mail
I work a great deal with low income groups in Boston and by
choice have a low income myself so I can do this work. I
perceive that these groups have low access to and desire to use
newspapers. Reading is often not a large part of their lives.
Large numbers are just not literate or educated. E-mail is the
furthest thing from their mind. Few have keyboard or computer
skills. Internet E-mail is far more complex than using a
telephone. It requires far more training and motivation. For
some of these people, if they had a computer, the greatest use
for it would be to trade for something more useful. These are
not scientific observations but I am concerned about this
environment. Why should these people even want E-mail? There
are a tremendous number of needs that are way above E-mail, even
if free, even if equipment is free. What will motivate them to
get it and lean to use it?
I believe free Universal Access to E-mail is very desirable but I
see lots of barriers. I think it is the end of the tale instead
of the beginning. It seems likely to me that TV and even phone
service will move to the Internet over the next ten years, often
through cable TV service providers. I believe that basic service
for all of this needs to be free and advertiser paid. An
Internet environment needs to evolve where no one would go
without the service because it is as important and accessible as
the phone. In this environment Universal E-mail access will make
sense but will it happen? Will it get used?.
Is it possible that we will evolve an environment where half the
population persistently does not have or use the modern means of
communication that help connect us all? What are the
implications?
What are the implications for the elderly? They are very slow to
adapt to the computer.
There is a great need to build personal relations and rebuild our
communities. How will E-mail change this process? hinder this
process? facilitate this process? These are experimental
questions!
Over the next 5 years I bet 50 million PC's get dumped into the
hands of the poor, often for nothing, as wealthy people and
corporations upgrade to full multimedia Internet boxes. Will
this spur E-mail use? It is not obvious to me. I've provided
too many free computers to people and seen them sit, so have
others.
While I have much personal optimism about the value of
communications technology for our society, I do not believe that
the benefits will automatically flow to the lower economic and
intellectual ends of our society. We will need to work hard to
change the low income culture in a positive direction.
Gary Wilson
Greater Boston Interfaith Organization
gwilson@juno.com
72 Boylston Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130-2203
617-524-3147/524-7986
PS: I have free E-mail but cannot afford Internet service and
looking at your Web page will be difficult. Just one of many
problems low income people have.
_________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet
e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at
http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
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[4]
From: KLINCK <KLINCK@aol.com>
Subject: Question 3 & 4
E-Mail for the wealthy.
The wealthy have E-Mail or the full capability of having E-Mail.
The approach to E-Mail will become universal when the poor and
oppressed have full access.
The idea that there may need to be a local node such as at the
Laundromat is one way to look at approaching the problem, but, in
my opinion, it is stop gap.
E-Mail in the home and access to the web is vital for the poor
and oppressed of the world.
The present monthly fees are too high for the poor to pay let
alone the cost of the equipment which has certainly come down
with the advent of the web-tv node.
Every effort will be needed to bring the costs down and the power
to the people.
I believe that true universal E-Mail and web access may be
blocked by the wealthy as it represents a potential for those in
extremis to congregate and make their group will known. We may
experience a world revolution on keypads and screens.
George Klinck Clarke
Clarke Family Assurance, Inc.
PO Box 343
New London, CT 06320
<{;<)=!!!!!==={
klinck@aol.com
www.klinck.com
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[5]
[Host Note - Depending upon the number of specific responses to
future questions we may split such responses into separate
messages. Please watch for special instructions with the theme
introductions.]
From: Jeffrey Hart <hartj@indiana.edu>
Subject: Re: EMFA: T1I - Universal E-Mail - May 5-6
At 09:07 PM 5/4/98 -0500, you wrote:
>- - E-Mail for All - - - EMFA-EVENT - - - Universal Access - -
>
>
>Universal E-Mail
>----------------
>1. How many people have an e-mail address in the U.S.? In
>other countries? Do they use e-mail from home or work? Which
>geographic areas have the most e-mail addresses per capita in
>the world? What is the rate of growth in e-mail users and
>message volume?
Email was the "killer ap" in the early days of the Internet (and
before that in the days of the ARPANET). It is still much more
likely to be used than the web browsers of today's Internet. At
my university it took less than two years for over 95 percent of
the undergraduate students to be email users and at least two
more years for web browsers to be commonly used.
The distribution of email accounts must be quite similar to the
distribution of web access capabilities, which are highly
concentrated in the wealthier countries. There are a few
surprises in Internet usage by country (see the information about
this collected by Tony Rutkowski at www.isoc.org) but it is
mostly correlated with per capita income.
The growth in email usage may increase above its already
considerable growth rate with the spread of free Web-based email
accounts such as those offered by Hotmail, Mindspring, and
others.
>2. What can we learn from providers of e-mail accounts about
>broadening access to e-mail? What are the important lessons?
>What are the known benefits? Where are most of the real costs?
>Broadly, what is your vision of the future of e-mail?
Email software is still a little daunting for first-time users.
Also, people need to know about the filtering capabilities of
that software so that they are not put off by SPAM and other
unwelcome messages. Nobody knows what the real benefits and
costs are, but I assume users consider email to be useful,
otherwise usage rates would not have increased so rapidly. I
know most of my friends use email instead of telephone and fax
for professional communications in order to save time and money.
They would probably continue to use it if there was a small fee
for using it.
>3. Should there be a public policy goal of universal e-mail
>(i.e. an e-mail address for everyone and the means to access
>it)? Has any governmental body considered this? Should e-mail
>access from homes or a nearby public location (see next theme
>regarding Universal Internet) be guaranteed?
Yes, I think that everyone should be issued an email account in
the same way that they are given a mailing address (except for
the homeless who should also be given email accounts because they
do not have an address). Email should be an alternative to snail
mail for everybody. As far as I know, no national government has
yet adopted this position, although it is the principle behind
many local and regional "free mail" systems.
>
>4. If the "market" brings sixty-five percent of individuals and
>most businesses online by 2005, what should be done now to
>build a more universal, effective and efficient e-mail
>infrastructure? Should there be unified "white page"
>directories? Will there be "unlisted" options? Privacy
>protections? As people change providers, how portable
>will their e-mail addresses be? What kind of "universal
>e-mail" system do we want/expect from the competitive
>marketplace? What, if anything, should be done to fill in
>the "gaps?"
Directories will take care of themselves because of the way
in which the TCP/IP protocols permit the easy creation of
email databases at nodes. Let the market decide about what
types of directories are most useful to email users. I think
that encryption has to be an element of all future Internet
traffic -- email or otherwise -- although perhaps we will need to
finally decide whether the U.S. government's proposal for a dual
key system with depositing of keys with trusted third parties
(TTPs) is necessary for law enforcement and national security
purposes.
JH
Jeffrey Hart
Department of Political Science
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN 47405
tel (812) 855-9002
fax (812) 855-2027
<http://php.indiana.edu/~hartj>http://php.indiana.edu/~hartj
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