Colleagues, This conversation is getting a bit excited. Perhaps it would be helpful to know that I had the initial conversation with Prof. Ayyadurai as he was interested in donating his original program code and other documents associated with the development of this software to the MIT Museum. I viewed the development as one of the many tiny streams that contributed to the development of the technology we call "email" (Small "e"). Frankly, the personal story is touching and interesting and a reminder that not all developments in computing history came from big universities, companies or the military. However, I referred my colleague to the Smithsonian, Lemelson and Computer History Museum as I felt his small collection would be better served by these institutions. I don't think my colleagues were under any illusions about Ayyadurai's place in history was and is. I am delighted this material is being preserved and I hope you all are as well. It's not very often that you have all of the original programming materials, along with the materials that document an individual's effort to make their claim in the sun. The decline of American science writing and journalism is a well-documented fact but it is true for all aspects of reporting. Everyday, I spot major errors and I'm sure you do too. The flurry of emails, comments, blogs, is a healthy corrective. I promise to share your comments with Ayyadurai as I'm sure he will be interested and perhaps he may even want to respond. With best regards, Debbie Douglas On Feb 22, 2012, at 5:06 PM, Thomas Haigh wrote:
Thanks Marie,
I had already suggested to our main web content volunteer, Chris McDonald, that he consider doing this. He agreed.
Meanwhile I'm spending far too much of my afternoon following this story. My message got forwarded to the "Interesting People" list, and has been picked up in turn by the techdirt blog. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120222/11132917842/how-guy-who-didnt-inve nt-email-got-memorialized-press-smithsonian-as-inventor-email.shtml
There is a Wikipedia page on Shiva Ayyadurai, presumably created by the man himself. Look at recent edits to the "Talk page" and the section "Email Claims." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva_Ayyadurai So the forces of the web have begun to correct things.
His resume is at http://stuff.mit.edu/people/vashiva/index.html. He claims to be a "Faculty Lecturer" at MIT in the Biological Engineering division and director of its "EMAIL LAB" -- however his link for the "lab" goes to another vanity domain featuring his own take on history. http://theemaillab.org/home.asp. The MIT people directory lists him merely as "Visiting Lecturer" in the Comparative Media Studies department. The Media and Organizationl Biometrics Initiative" he claims to direct has another very skimpy site, though it is at least hosted at MIT: http://mdg.mit.edu/home.asp.
He has also set up a site to promote his claim at http://www.historyofemail.net/.
In answer to Jon Lindsay, the exact status of the Smithsonian involvement is unclear. I did find a Smithsonian blog post that just went up today at http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2012/02/a-piece-of-email-histo ry-comes-to-the-american-history-museum/. This calls the system "one of the first to include a number of features we take for granted" which is rather more nuanced than Ayyadurai's own claim. My guess is that someone agreed to take a box of papers documenting what is, after all, a system whose code and design will be of genuine interest to future historians. Ayyadurai then puffed this up into being "honored by the Smithsonian," endorsement of his claims, etc.
Tom
-----Original Message----- From: Marie Hicks [mailto:mhicks1@iit.edu] Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 2:40 PM To: Thomas Haigh; members@sigcis.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Email was invented by a school boy in 1978 says Washington Post & Time Magazine
Hi all,
Tom, would you consider posting a shortened version of your initial email on the sigcis.org blog? And SIGCIS members, would you consider going over there and commenting on it? It strikes me that this is a perfect opportunity to have a public conversation, on our terms, about the history of computing--one that will hopefully be enlightening for a broader public.
As you pointed out, the news outlets did a poor job of sourcing these articles: "Even calling a historian might take an hour or two to arrange. But are they even incapable of using Wikipedia and Google?"
Let's stack the deck a bit more in our favor. Let's put some high quality content out there on the SIGCIS blog for folks to read now, and refer back to in the future.
Best,
Marie (SIGCIS Vice Chair, Operations) _______________ Marie Hicks, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of History of Technology Lewis Department of the Humanities Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL mhicks1@iit.edu twitter: @histoftech www.mariehicks.net
On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 12:07 PM, Dave Walden <dave.walden.family@gmail.com> wrote:
Naturally this was discussed on the exBBN list. In my view, this "new guy" has described something not quite like what the rest of us
understand
when we say "email". I think there are three useful documents on the actual history of email as we know it linked to under "Relevant to Chapter 20" at
<http://walden-family.com/bbn/#ref-email>http://walden-family.com/bbn/#ref-e mail
-- home address: 12 Linden Rd., E. Sandwich, MA 02537 home ph=508-888-7655; cell ph = 503-757-3137 email address: dave@walden-family.com; website: <http://www.walden-family.com/bbn/>http://www.walden-family.com/bbn/
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Deborah G. Douglas, Ph.D. • Curator of Science and Technology, MIT Museum, Room N51-209 • 265 Massachusetts Avenue • Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 • http://web.mit.edu/museum • http://museum.mit.edu/150 • ddouglas@mit.edu • 617-253-1766 phone • 617-253-8994 fax Spring Semester 2012 • Research Associate, Program in Science, Technology, and Society • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Room E51-179B • 77 Massachusetts Avenue • Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 • 617-452-3545 phone