Blog Post #5

EOTO Technology Presentations 

After watching the presentations on EOTO technology, the one that caught my interest was the history of email. Email is something I've had before I had a phone number; I got one in elementary school. It was one of the first real online communication methods for my generation. I still use it every day since then for various aspects. Today, I have multiple emails: one from my university, one for my social life and other interests, and one that is used for spam without my name on it. 

I learned from the presentation about the history of email. Starting from what it looked like when it started (as seen on the left) in 1965 on MIT's Comparable Time-Sharing System, it was a MAIL command created by Noel Morris and Tom Van Vleck. Computers were not as advanced as they are today, making it not typical at this time to have a computer in your home, Therefore, computers would have multiple users and could be found in places like the library or a school. This took over other communication technologies like the teleprinter, telegraph, typewriter, and even the traditional mailman. The difference between email and the teleprinter was basically the same, but it was cheaper, faster, and could do more editing.

I also learned how the @ symbol works and why it was used. It was used by Ray Tomlinson because those sending emails need to know who they are talking to and where it is coming from. That's why the separate name of the user is separated from the host computer's name. 

Some downsides that came from email were spam and viruses. Looking specifically at spam, it is something that most of us see in our emails constantly. It's almost like there is no escape from it. Thankfully, it is on the decline, with it being at its highest in 2014 and slowly making its way back down. In 2021, it was the lowest it had ever been but slightly went up, and it is back on the decline now.