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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Hello everyone,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Exciting news! If you read the response from the Washington Post ombudsman, you may remember that it mentioned that the post “has invited Ayyadurai and MIT to write a response to all the readers who wrote in to denounce the story. That also is an excellent way to address the dispute, and enhance the discussion. That will be appearing in coming days.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I’ve just been asked by Emi Kolawole to prepare a piece disputing Ayyadurai’s claim and laying out the actual historical consensus on the invention of email. This will presumably run alongside his defense of his position. Not sure about length or format yet.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>So, who wants to help me get it right? To avoid spamming the list too much, maybe reply to me directly unless you are confident your post will be of general interest to the list.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Here are a few areas where I’d like to pin things down more and would welcome assistance.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>1)<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>Does anyone have a usage of “email” or “e-mail” prior to 1980? I haven’t looked seriously at this.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>2)<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>If I had space to mention 6 or 8 milestones in the development of “modern email” what would they be? Say a sentence, a date, and maybe a person or two for each. I’m thinking something like <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>a.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>CTSS and other timesharing university systems, <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>b.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>ARPANET network mail, <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>c.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>Proprietary commercial email systems<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>d.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>SMTP over TCP/IP, <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>e.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>desktop clients, <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>f.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>Notes <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>g.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>MIME, <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>h.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>webmail. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>3)<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>Does anyone know MIT job titles? Ayyadurai claims to be a “Faculty Lecturer in Biological Engineering” at MIT and this has been widely reported and even survived recent upheavals on his Wikipedia page. This seemed rather tautological to me, as lecturer is not usually a faculty position in the USA. Googling<i> “Faculty Lecturer” MIT </i>gives no other individuals holding this title. One of his personal pages at MIT includes the title, <a href="http://web.mit.edu/be/people/ayyadurai.shtml">http://web.mit.edu/be/people/ayyadurai.shtml</a> although he does not appear on a list of faculty in Biological Engineering <a href="http://web.mit.edu/be/people/alphabetical.shtml">http://web.mit.edu/be/people/alphabetical.shtml</a>. He is listed on another page <a href="http://web.mit.edu/be/people/index.shtml">http://web.mit.edu/be/people/index.shtml</a> as “Research/Teaching Staff”. Doing a “people” search from the MIT web page, which pulls official institutional data, gives him only as a Visiting Lecturer (a job title I do understand) in Comparative Media Studies. So does the position of “Faculty Lecturer” even exist at MIT?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Tom<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>