Is e-mail dead?

The topic of whether e-mail is dead is very relevant to us today because of how everything is technology driven in the world. The question now is how many people still network and communicate using e-mail versus other forms of communication.

E-mail has it's place in that organisations such as universities still use e-mail and their form of keeping up to date within a network because it is a common use of communication that people still seem to keep. Some people today see e-mail as a portal for unwanted e-mails like spam to come into their lives. E-mail scams such as the Nigerian pleas for financial assistance are pulling people into traps that they didn't even realise existed. E-mail provides these people with an easy way of reaching other people all over the world. They do however manage to trap people that want to believe that what they are pleading for is real and if they give money, it will benefit them. The Nigerians use of the e-mail repeatedly sending these spam e-mails is an effective use of reaching a broad range of people and as sad and disgusting as it is, it actually works. So is e-mail dead in this case? No, it is very much alive.

Although there are many other forms of online communication that people are using now for example facebook, myspace and blogging, everyone still has an e-mail account, maybe even two. Is still is the biggest form of communication in broader networks with other organisations. Within a smaller closed network other forms such as myspace and facebook might be the more convenient but e-mail still holds it's ground firmly in regards to getting important information efficiently. E-mail is not dead. This topic reminds me that the world is changing fast.

Setting up a blog account

Setting up a blog account was interesting. This is my first blog account and I have been enjoying it so far. Although I have to ask what happened to the good old 'pen on paper' recording of thoughts and ideas. As technology grows and matures so must our capabilities of using technology. You will get left behind if your don't. The features on the blog page are taking me awhile to get to use to their full potential. Things like changing the background colour on my blog are yet to be learnt but will be learnt.

Topic 1 - Second Life

Being Introduced to Second Life through the screening You only Live Twice was a real eye opener for me. I had never even thought that virtual interaction existed. How underground am I! I have thought about it happening and imagined it just like the next person, little did I know, I was being left behind and technology was going places. Where will it be when my children come along?

The main issue for me with Second Life, as great as the means of interaction and communication are, it is a sad escape for people to explore another life that they could only dream of. Their avatars would be the people that they envy and cannot be in real life. One light argue that it is an escape from reality, a way of diving into another world that has no limits, but I see it another way. I see it as a portal for peoples expectations of the satisfaction it should bring them get misled and the happiness they get from the game doesn't meet the happiness they feel in their real lives. Having said that I think it is an awesome game that goes beyond our reality but where does it end? How much further can reality be pushed to the back of our 'lives' and a virtual reality become our reality.

What I found interesting was the purchasing of realestate. Since when does someone need to buy virtual realestate? What do they do with it?

I have been thinking more and more about the ways in which technology is allowing us to communicate. It seems to me that although this is wonderful, it almost seems like it is becoming increasingly outrageous, leaving the average person behind. I am interested to find out what other forms of communication is being produced within the web. These virtual realities we are creating for ourselves, virtual meeting places that we seem to find ourselves being more comfortable being apart of than reality, seem years away, but are really just in the other room accessed through our computers.