[5] Reflections of an E-mail Evangeladdict by Charles 'Chuck' A. James chazza@imssys.imssys.com My name is Chuck James. I am an e-mail addict. My name is Chuck James. I am an e-mail evangelist If you think this is a contradiction, then it illustrates the promise and the problem of e-mail. Words are symbols which can be interpreted quite differently from person to person. In our culture "addict" is usually pejorative, particularly, if it is associated with abuse as in drugs, alcohol or television. We are talking habit-forming to the extent that cessation of the activity causes trauma or withdrawal symptoms. Is all addiction bad? "Evangelist" may be pejorative or high praise, depending upon one's persuasion and the context in which it is used. It all depends on the reader's interpretation of the symbol. Most would agree that an evangelist advances a cause with missionary zeal. I can do that. How do these terms apply to me? Well suffice it to say I am happily hooked. Until a few years ago I had accepted my well deserved reputation for outrageous, if benign, neglect of faithful correspondents. I did not write letters. I always intended to answer the wonderful letters from friends, relatives and acquaintance. My intentions were good enough to pave a six lane highway to hell.. I thoroughly enjoyed receiving letters but over the years they mysteriously stopped coming. I was notoriously inconsiderate, especially with close friends and family. Lincoln Steffens description of Philadelphia at the turn of the century, fit me like a glove. I was corrupt and contented. Then along came electronic mail (e- mail) and I had a miraculous conversion. I am reminded of the Biblical account of Saul of Tarsus on his way to Damascus when his conversion occurred. I was on my way to utter damnation for my sins of omission, when a bolt of e-mail shocked my psyche and I was never the same again. Well almost. I still tend to disregard snail mail but now this is motivated more by compassion than negligence. Even I refuse to read my handwriting. In school nuns tried for years of forceful ruler-on-the-knuckle persuasion to transform my hieroglyphics into legible script. Finally they were reduced to tearful pleas for relief from frustration. The nuns made heroic efforts to teach me the beautiful cursive of the Palmer method. In grateful memory of that sweet dedication, I refuse to expose their failure with my writing. In my last semester of high school I learned to type. Years later, I acquired my first modem (necessary for communication over the telephone lines). It was a 300 baud device. It is sufficient for this article to define "baud" as the rate at which data is transmitted over telephone lines. A more precise explanation is beyond the purview of this article. It is hard to imagine now, but I accepted that 300 baud modem as heaven sent. I could now communicate with the world. I subscribed to CompuServe and I discovered e-mail. I began to exchange messages with friends and online acquaintances who had e-mail addresses. It was so easy! Much later I subscribed to America Online and acquired a new modem with what was then the unbelievable new baud rate of 2400. E-mail became even easier. Today, I have the fastest modem made. It is more than ten times faster than that 2400. The experts say that modems cannot become any faster. But faster access speeds are possible with some changes in the transmission technology. I am impatiently licking my lips thinking about the tremendous increase in speed that will come with full digital service. When I started e-mail, I found it difficult to getup from my chair if one message required a response. Now, it is close to impossible to leave an unanswered message. The ease, the speed of e-mail was electrifying (no pun intended). There were times when I would force myself to think about my reply for at least a few minutes before replying and once or twice I even left a message unanswered for a full day, but that caused unbearable pangs of a strange guilt. Neglecting snail mail had never troubled me. Will e-mail affect postal service? Could e-mail ultimately replace a substantial portion of postal traffic. I say "yes" to both questions. Our postal service is already taking steps to embrace this revolution. Consider this excerpt from an online article that appeared December, 1994: "WORLD'S FIRST INTERACTIVE ELECTRONIC POST OFFICE DEBUTS IN ORLANDO, Fla.," (Dec. 13 PRNewswire). Imagine some day in the future being able to cruise the Information Superhighway to do business with your post office without ever leaving home. Imagine no more the future is closer than you think." A caveat emptor (buyer beware) is in order. The undeniably seductive characteristics of e-mail have dangers. One of the reasons that I was slow to answer letters was a felt need to craft a thoughtful, long, witty letter that could someday document my time, insight and philosophy. That takes time. I seldom succeeded. One does not feel that heavy burden with e-mail. E-mail takes little time. Unfortunately, I respond without thinking of the message that may be conveyed to the recipient. The danger is that this message may not be the message I intend to convey. A friend who was doing e-mail for the first time, replied to my message with profuse apologies for having offended me. Ironically, my message was intended to convey subtle self-deprecating humor not offense. The laugh was on me. Now she refuses to write another e-mail message. However, she will write letters (snail mail) to me and I painfully respond with wordprocessor letters. She is too good a friend to torture with my handwriting. I am not noble enough to disguise my pain. During a number of years serving abroad in Foreign Service with Peace Corps Agency for International Development and Department of State, daily cables were a fact. Without knowing it I was being conditioned for the e- mail revolution to come. Now I am passionate without apology for e-mail. I know its promise and problems. Give me an e-mail address and I will write. E-mail brought me very close to a number of people. Many of them I have never met in person. If I fail to reply to a message my correspondents become alarmed because of my habit of instant reply. On more than one occasion, friends have called to see if I am all right. On occasion, my computer would go down, leaving messages unanswered for more than a day. A message that I do not answer is a silent alarm. "Has chuck fallen and can't get up to his computer?" There are those who argue that the computer, e-mail and preoccupation with the Internet and World Wide Web is dehumanizing and contributes to anti-social behavior. That is hogwash! In fact just the opposite occurs. A year ago in late April, 1994 my friend, Richard who lives in California, needed to get information to his friend, Graham who teaches at a college in Wolverhampton, England. Richard does e-mail but he was in Washington, so he asked me to transmit the message through James Quirke, a colleague of Graham. I sent the message and on the 3rd of May, 1994, James and I started a daily correspondence which continues until this day. We have exchanged more than four hundred messages. He shared my messages with Janet who reluctantly decided to send me an e-mail message. It was her who felt that she had offended me with a comment in her message. In June, his college-age daughter, Hannah, started writing to me and our correspondence continued until she visited me in August. That was her first trip to the United States. I know the family very well but Hannah is the only one that I have met in person. James and his wife, Janet are my closest friends. We have never met in person. In addition to our friendly exchange, James serves as the e-mail conduit for Graham who is e-mail disadvantaged. Graham, in addition to his music and teaching, is writing a book and has an insatiable appetite for information. James transmits Graham's requests for information to me and Richard. Often we have been able to get the information to him within 24 hours, thanks to Internet, America Online, CompuServe and e-mail. Richard of California has connected me with an ever expanding group of new friends thousands of miles away through e-mail. As a result, I have five regular correspondents in England and Luxembourg. Although we have exchanged almost a thousand messages, we have not licked a single stamp nor had a long distance phone bill. However, James has called to find out if I am well. My computer had been down for several days. It does not end there. Several months ago while reading the messages on a list to which I subscribe, I saw the name 'Jane James'. That is the name of my ex wife. Up to that point I had never known another 'Jane James' so I sent a message to this second Jane James at the prestigious small college where she is the computer coordinator. I remarked on this coincidence of names. She replied that she was struck by still another coincidence. Her husband is 'Chuck James'. When I recovered from this, I wrote back to ask if there is the possibility that he and I could be related. She replied that she doubted that we would be related because her husband is African American. Then I had to reveal my true colors. Jane and I have never met in person nor have we exchanged photographs but I continue to enjoy her interesting and often informative e-mail that she manages to slip into her killing schedule. I think that the most seductive feature of e-mail is its immediacy. To me this "instant communication" is the most attractive feature of our "instant society". Fast food I can do without most of the time. Instant coffee can never replace the smell-as-it's-brewing original. But I embrace instant communication. Post it in the morning and have a reply in the afternoon. Like the computer itself the inhuman speed of execution can be a fatal attraction. Mistakes are made faster than a speeding bullet train and leaps all boundaries, spanning the globe. Quick responses can produce immediate confusion. Speed is the temptress and often meaning becomes the victim. Words can have several meanings. In personal contact we communicate not only with words but with demeanor, tone and expression. A barking dog with a wagging tail is less of a threat than the slinking, silent dog with tail tucked between legs and head lowered. So too a word with a smile, a wink or a wagging finger (tail if you like) conveys a different message than the same word accompanied by a menacing scowl or tight lips and a frown. It is not easy to know what is communicated to the recipient, especially if the recipient is in another region, country and/or culture. The word symbols may convey unintended meaning to the recipient. The greatest communicators are those who are able to give readers or listeners the exact message that they wish to convey. E-mail is transmitted without the body language, the smile, the wink or a quiet tone to soften or embellish the words. Thus emoticons or smileys have evolved as a sometimes inadequate e-mail effort to simulate emotional context. This is one aspect of virtual reality. The words: "You are crazy! ;-)" with the "smiley" will not be taken literally. (hopefully) :-() What is it about e-mail? For me, it is the relief from the self- destructive tedium of handwriting. The pen may be mightier than the sword but only if you have the skill to use the pen. I am script(urally) disadvantaged. I can't write. I know how but the failure is in the execution. On the other hand, it seems that my fingers have a symbiotic relationship with keyboards. I type much faster than I write and I feel that I think better when I am typing. (I can say that with impunity because who can prove otherwise). I can compose much easier on a keyboard than on a writing pad. If you doubt that then just dare me to write a letter to you. I will not be responsible for the consequences. When I cannot get online to do e-mail, I suffer. I need to communicate! I am an addict. I think everyone needs to communicate with e-mail. I am an evangelist. With e-mail one can reach out and touch someone in real time (almost) without stamps and without a phone bill. With e-mail, the someone you touch may be a continent away or a world away. You can establish a relationship with that someone even though you may never see your correspondent in person. E-mail can expand your horizon and your world, not only with new friends but with new information, new insights and new understanding. It is possible to link minds and even hearts with new worlds. Marshall McLuhan was right. E-mail is the medium and the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Reprinted from the Amateur Computerist Vol 7 no 2 Winter 1997 available free via email from jrh@umcc.umich.edu and http://www.umcc.umich.edu/~jrh/acn -----------------------------------------------------------------------