Diffusion of Innovations : Blog #7

    Email caught on and spread because computer scientists at MIT needed “knowledge and awareness” to find a way to communicate quickly via research and academic purposes, this then carried onto one of ARPAS's directors, Stephen Lukasik, as he strongly encouraged their “complex network” to use email. 

    Ray Tomlinson at BBN made an Optional Innovation-Decision and took the most significant step in 1972. He created a newly designed messaging system that is acceptable for the PDP-10 computer. Based on the diffusion of innovations article, the emails compatibility, timeline, and communication, made the email spark and very convenient for those first using it. 

    From Tomlinson's work, The Rise of the Electronic Email in 1971-1975 was deemed the most convenient way of communication. So many people became early adaptors of the e-mail, By 1976, 75% of the ARPANET traffic was electronic mail that allowed the communication of messages within an internal network. By the 1980s, Internet service providers had connected people worldwide, and email hosting sites had wanted to join in. For many new internet users, electronic email was the first practical application of this discovery. In 1993, electronic email changed its title to "mail," over the next few years, echo mail, Hotmail, and Yahoo shaped the internet and email world. 

    The tension for change in companies was successfully fulfilled by the e-mail because of the “innovation-system fit (compatibility), and assessment of implications (observability). Organizations can feel pressured by a tension for change and to change.” These companies increased marketing dollars and exposure to the World Wide Web to what it is today. Nowadays, the internet has exploded positively from 55 million users worldwide, making emailing an everyday activity. Emailing can contact friends, communicate with professors and supervisors, request information, and apply for jobs, internships, and scholarships. 

    Those who could be late adaptors would be because the negatives from emailing are dangerous. Unsolicited emails can quickly overwhelm and fill email systems unless a protected software or firewall keeps these harmful messages from being in the inbox. Because viruses can quickly spread through links and email attachments, email security issues are rising, especially when using the cloud or remote access. 

    People who didn't adapt at all to this invention include those who are older and against how media on our phones and computers consumes much of our lives. What some researchers have worried about ever since emailing came about is that it makes us lack a personal touch. For example, instead of meeting for lunch over a topic, two co-workers could efficiently resolve an issue over email instead of catching up and fueling themselves. Meeting in person could also help avoid miscommunication that someone could feel over an email, which could quickly resolve that.