EMFA: T1E5 - On Universal Access to E-Mail - Ardai

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Theme: Universal E-Mail - Essay #5
Author: Charles Ardai
E-mail: president@juno.com


[Host Note:  Charles Ardai is the President of Juno Online 
Services <http://www.juno.com>.  Juno is the second-largest 
provider of consumer Internet e-mail accounts in the United 
States at 4.7 million. Their service is free to anyone with 
access to a personal computer running Microsoft Windows and 
equipped with a modem.  Charles is a member of the E-Mail for 
All Board of Advisors.]



ON UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO E-MAIL
Charles Ardai
May 5, 1998


Our current century has been what it has, for good or ill, in
large part because of universal access to communications
technology, or the lack thereof. To the printed word, to the 
chittering telegraph, to all the later means of mass and 
personal communication -- each major technology, from the 
telephone to the television to the fax machine to the computer, 
has not only materially altered the lives of those who use it, 
but also shaped the societies in which it has been adopted.  

Where a technology has been universally available, it has tended
to lead to the broader dissemination of information, to the
airing of conflicting views, to the coordination of groups over
distances, and to the breaking down of barriers.  Where access to
a technology has been controlled or limited, it has tended to
lead to the consolidation of power in a few hands, to the
preservation of prejudice, and to the impoverishment of the
public.  For this reason alone, an observer of the current
limited availability of Internet access in general and e-mail in
particular cannot help but fear the consequences of our failing
to make these technologies universally accessible.

That I have a telephone is of consequence to me; but that
everyone I know has a telephone is of consequence to my society. 
A communication technology used by some is a curiosity; a
communication technology used by all is something significantly
greater.  Such a technology becomes part of our common
vocabulary, a shared frame of reference, and a foundation on the
assumption of which entire worlds of commerce, entertainment,
activism, scholarship, and art and can be erected.  The simple
assumption, which we now take for granted, that every business
one might want to have dealings with can be reached by telephone
alters the way we do business.  The assumption (only slightly
imperfect) that every individual can be reached by postal mail
allows governments to implement tax collection and census taking
and jury duty notification.  The fact that all my colleagues can
receive e-mail changes the way I run my company.  If only some of
my colleagues could, it wouldn't.

Like other communication tools, e-mail has the curious attribute
of increasing in value to you the more other people use it, and
of increasing in value disproportionately as it approaches
ubiquity.  Universal access, rather than just broad access, is
critical.  

But how are we to accomplish this goal?  Those who laud Web-based
"free" e-mail services such as Hotmail miss the point that the
majority of computer users, never mind of people in general, do
not have access to the Web.  Those who laud my company, Juno, for
providing millions of Americans with a free e-mail service that
does not require Web access miss the point that millions more
don't even have a computer.  In the United States, the Emergency
Broadcasting System works because everyone has access to a radio
or television; 911 works because everyone can get access, even
during a crisis, to a telephone.  How many important and valuable
social developments will we have to forgo if we never get to the
point where everyone can, when they need to, gain access to a
computer, a modem, a network connection, and an e-mail provider?

It will take machinery, lower-cost machinery by far than than
which is available today; it will take software; it will take
companies or organizations capable of running huge server plants
and databases; it will take revenue streams, ranging from
subscription fees to advertising and commerce revenue; in the
absence of revenue, it may take public subsidies.  Most of all,
it will take education and instruction, the training ordinary
people need before they can even see the value in using e-mail,
before they can use a computer keyboard with any degree of
comfort or fluency, and before they stop feeling debilitatingly
embarrassed over their lack of familiarity with the new tools
they are being asked to use.

Without this, the danger exists that Internet access and e-mail
could become a toy (or, worse still, a weapon) in the hands of a
wealthy, already powerful elite.  Imagine if only people with
incomes of $100,000 or above had telephones, if only people under
35 had TVs and VCRs, if only college-educated people had
answering machines.  Imagine if e-mail were the way lawyers
communicated with politicians and CEOs with investment bankers,
while the remainder of the population was left out.  To a
first-order approximation, this is the case: by and large, it is
the wealthier, younger, better-educated segment of society that
is using e-mail.

If e-mail is to be a force for good rather than ill, it must not
stop there. 

#


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