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\center{\majorheading{\bigger{\bigger{Evolving The Future}}}


Nathaniel Borenstein

Email World Special Presentation

Tuesday, November 2, 1993}


NOTE:  This speaker is on a personal crusade to reduce the use of paper in 
favor of electronic documents.  Accordingly, instead of the complete slides 
for his talk, what follows is simply an outline of the talk, in sufficient 
detail for taking notes.  If you want a complete copy of his slides, it is 
available in MIME format on the Internet.  As an added bonus, you will be able 
to get a complete audio recording of the talk in the same manner within a few 
days after its presentation.  You may obtain this material by sending mail to 
\bold{mail-server@thumper.bellcore.com} with a subject of 
\bold{pub/nsb/EmailWorld/Evolving.ps} for the PostScript version of the 
slides, \bold{pub/nsb/EmailWorld/Evolving.txt} for the text format, or 
\bold{pub/nsb/EmailWorld/Evolving.au} for the audio.  Alternately, you may 
obtain them by anonymous ftp from thumper.bellcore.com, directory 
\bold{pub/nsb/EmailWorld}, file names \bold{Evolving.ps}, \bold{Evolving.txt}, 
and \bold{Evolving.au}.  If you don't have Internet access, you may call 
\bold{(201) 829-4270} and leave a message giving your physical mail address 
and requesting a paper  copy of the slides.


\heading{1.  The History of Human Work}

\description{-- Hunter/gatherer -> farmer -> merchant -> factory worker -> 
telecommuter

-- Information technology liberates in space

-- Email liberates in time}

\heading{2.  Email as the key technology of tomorrow

}\description{-- Most distributed

-- Most egalitarian: smooths social & economic roles, bends gender (NSB 
picture)

-- Most flexible in space and time

-- Most freedom-enhancing.  (Guppy Lake)}

\heading{3.  What can email do?

}\description{-- The vast mail-enabled multimedia applications

-- Critical role of interchange formats and languages}

\heading{4.  What stands in the way?

}\description{-- NIH.  Invention is too easy, which threatens cooperation.

-- Vendor proprietary formats.  Notes, Magicap.

-- Lack of universal interchange standards.}

\heading{5.  The standards process

}\description{-- X.400, Internet Mail, & MIME: The true story

-- Evolution of active messages (ATOMICMAIL, Safe-Tcl, etc.)

-- A cautionary tale:  character sets.  We must avoid this trap, but 
programming languages are even worse in general.

-- Need to nip it in the bud!}

\heading{6.  How to avoid the "character set trap"?

}\description{-- Coherent, mutually friendly evolution

-- Presumption of incremental advances rather than revolutions

\leftindent{-- (e.g. new MIME entities, new Safe-Tcl versions)}

-- Avoidance of gratuitous invention

-- Internet standards process:  a working but creaky model  Need better 
communication.

-- Need: SHARED email technology for discussing the evolution of email 
technology!

-- Need even more:  A positive attitude about the competence of others, and 
about the technology-in-place while better stuff is being designed.}

\heading{7.  A vehicle for both technology and attitude:  The Electric 
Eclectic

}\description{-- What it is:  a customizable multimedia metamagazine for the 
Internet

-- The email thread:  "Email Universe".  (Email World + the outer planets)

\leftindent{-- Forum for coherent explanations.  (Discussion spillover to 
lists/news)

-- Forum for technological experimentation

-- New minimum standard for email software:  good enough to read Email 
Universe}}

\heading{8.  Calls to Arms

}\description{-- Support MIME.  Demand to take multimedia capability for 
granted.  Ask intelligent questions (multipart alternative? 
 message/external-body?)

-- Push techies towards Tcl.  Ask them "why not?" and demand serious answers. 
 Accept no bigotry from any side.

-- Subscribe to the Electric Eclectic.

-- Imagine how to use email to create new forms of literature and distributed 
systems.}

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