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Title:

Too Much Text: When I Was Your Age, We Sent Email

Your vote:
Yes No
Organizer:
Jay Cuthrell, fudge.org
Description:
The youngest generation of Internet users have relegated email to the domain of their parents and other "old people". What are the current technical challenges faced by email that threaten it surviving for another decade of use and facing a decline in adoption by new users?
Questions
Answered:
  1. As we move email dialog from person to person to blog to blog and micro blog to micro blog will email be relegated to aging geeks?
  2. Knowing that spam has become the hallmark of a successful communication medium, how do we apply what has been learned in combating it?
  3. In going from your Mail client to a web only service, are we closer to a stable service or moving further away?
  4. For all the talk of the death of email, what are the true trends for use showing?
  5. Has spam contributed to the death of email or is it just a side trend of note due to increasingly connected populations of users?
  6. Can businesses trust email to become a way of communicating to customers or will hard copy prevail?
  7. What can be done to restore interest in email for new developers that are focused on creating real time communities?
  8. What are the critical pieces of email infrastructure that are examined today vs. 5 years ago for email to be sustainable?
  9. Usenet service has just been turned off by major carriers such as Verizon, when will they turn off email service?
  10. Email has survived for a few decades but when will it truly die?
Level:
Advanced
Category:
New Technology / Next Generation
Type:
Panel
Event:
SXSW Interactive 2009
Jay Cuthrell
on 8/8/08
Now accepting Q&A suggestions at jcuthrell@gmail.com
Jay Cuthrell
on 8/8/08
Panelist added: Steven Champeon of Enemies List http://enemieslist.com/
Jay Cuthrell
on 8/8/08
Currently seeking panelists under the age of 26 with strong opinions on the topic --- send interest to jcuthrell@gmail.com
Jay Cuthrell
on 8/8/08
Abstract and details available at http://fudge.org
Monica Danna
on 9/8/08
fascinating!
Monica Danna
on 9/8/08
was literally just in a panel this week that spoke of this very issue. WITI in Houston.
Jay Cuthrell
on 11/8/08
Monica - if you know anyone from that panel interested in sitting on this one please let me know!
Taylor Davidson
on 12/8/08
More of a communication culture challenge than a technology challenge, but interesting and very relevant...
Jay Cuthrell
on 12/8/08
Taylor - I agree on the culture challenge. The technology challenge is that there are also still those in the workplace and lifespace heavily reliant on email. There must be a predictable and reliable return to what email (in theory) was supposed to deliver to the Inbox.
Marcus Nelson
on 12/8/08
Holy Mackerel - I so relate to this, even with my coworkers. Total generation gap in only 10 years? Should be interesting
Marta Vieira
on 12/8/08
Can't wait to see this panel.:)
Jay Cuthrell
on 14/8/08
Here's a great discussion on the topic of email by The Gillmor Gang http://gillmorgang.techcrunch.com/2008/08/13/gillmor-gang-081208/
Jay Cuthrell
on 20/8/08
Oddly enough, Jason Calacanis is now saying there is "There is something about the acoustic, intimate nature of email that is impacting how I write."

http://www.calacanis.com/2008/08/18/updates/
Jay Cuthrell
on 20/8/08
Ophelia Chong has posed the concept of Post-Mortem Email Delivery Services http://howtosplitanatom.com/columnists/the-dead-mail-department/
ophelia chong
on 20/8/08
best damn panel ever.
Jay Cuthrell
on 25/8/08
Please check out Tim Hwang's panel: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/1338

Jay Cuthrell
on 25/8/08
Please check out Mark Schmulen's panel: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/1525
Jay Cuthrell
on 25/8/08
Please check out Joshua Baer's panel: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/1400
Sean Tierney
on 27/8/08
this will be an interesting discussion- communication tools are bound to change over time but it seems like the comm mechanisms that are proliferating like Twitter and SMS encourage fragmented ADHD conversations. It's seemingly causing the art of writing to be lost- this is talk that should be had.

sean
Joshua Baer
on 27/8/08
Young people didn't switch from email to social networking, they weren't using email before. As they enter the workforce and start to buy things online and such they will use email. Social networking isn't taking away from email, email is still growing. The pie is getting bigger, we're not slicing up parts of the same pie.
Jay Cuthrell
on 28/8/08
Joshua,

That's a great point but don't you think buying things online will lead to treating email as a receipts container? And at that point, most online services are created their own message systems that are self-contained with no notion of what we take for granted with common MTA in the server room or cloud and richer MUA on the desktop.

Email for companies tends to be either a culture or a miss. Blackberry and iPhone for workplace scenarios notwithstanding, there are certainly more email boxes out there but how many are useful?

I also noticed that the "Peek" device recently hit the news and is targeting a slightly older demographic. So, does the pie that gets bigger encompass the growing slice that is aging?

-Jay
Jay Cuthrell
on 29/8/08
[ 3 out of 5 business leaders prefer email ] source: http://blog.marketnet.com/entries/2008/06/2008-email-mark.html which begs the question... what are the other 2 business leaders into?
Jay Cuthrell
on 29/8/08
mega-events (catastrophe,breaking news,etc.) can result in a doubling or better in legitimate email traffic based on MessageLabs studies but are these long messages (greater than say 140 characters) or shorter messages of the variety "Are you ok?"
Mark Schmulen
on 29/8/08
Jay,
Great panel idea. This does not conflict with my panel, The New Inbox, but i am sure we can provide valuable insight at both. Feel free to contact me after the panels are submitted to discuss.
-Mark (at) nutshellmail(.com)

http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/idea/view/1525?return=%2Fideas%2Findex%2F3%2Fq%3Ainbox
Jay Cuthrell
on 30/8/08
Panelist added: Joshua Baer of OtherInbox http://blog.otherinbox.com/
Jay Cuthrell
on 10/12/08
We can haz Core Conversation?
Jay Cuthrell
on 22/12/08
http://sxsw.com/interactive/talks/core_conversations
Jay Cuthrell
on 22/12/08
Jay Cuthrell a.k.a. "qthrul" is a strategy and technology consultant based in Raleigh, NC and Missoula, MT. He has held CTO roles at Digitel Corporation and NeoNova (an Azure Capital company). Cuthrell was an infrastructure consultant with Scient (formerly iXL) working both domestically and internationally for Fortune 500 clients. He also served at Nortel, Analysts International, IBM, and NCSU College of Engineering. Cuthrell holds a BS in engineering from NCSU and grew up in Beaufort, NC.
Jay Cuthrell
on 12/1/09
Confirmed as of 01/08/09: Jay Cuthrell, Mark Schmulen, Steven Champeon
Jay Cuthrell
on 27/1/09
TITLE -- CC: Too Much Text: When I Was Your Age, We Sent Email
DAY -- Tues, March 17
TIME -- 3:30-4:30
Nike Air Force One
on 26/3/09
Awesome
Jay Cuthrell
on 20/4/09
Neat. http://www.google.com/search?q=too+much+text
Nike Air Force 1
on 28/4/09
Great
Nike Dunks
on 5/5/09
Great Information
Do it today!
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