Museum of Email & Digital Communications Opens
March 15 2012 - 5:24PM
Marketwired
The Museum of Email & Digital Communications
(www.email-museum.com) opens on March 27, 2012. The museum records
and interprets computer-based ways that people communicate, such as
email, social media, instant messaging, texting, and
videoconferencing.
Computer-based communication can be traced back to 1965, when
the first email was sent. As David Ferris, Executive Curator of the
Museum, observes, "Since then, computer-based communications have
turned the world upside down. In our personal lives, we use them to
arrange dates, we reach out to distant loved ones as if they were
next door. In business, tiers of management have been removed,
business cycles compressed from weeks to hours. In politics,
dictators have toppled, oligarchies converted to pluralist
societies."
Why the museum? Ferris explains: "Most of the early innovators
are still alive, and the record of the technologies' evolution is
still rich. We have a wonderful opportunity to record and interpret
their development, in a way that wasn't done with other equally
momentous developments in human communications, such as the spoken
word, the book, the postal system, and the telephone."
The museum:
- Is virtual
- Has an initial archive consisting of 2,500 reports,
conferences, and bulletins
- Has an open management structure, much like Wikipedia
- Invites all qualified visitors to contribute content
- Is a not-for-profit charity, 501(c)(3) registration
pending
The museum also offers sponsorship opportunities, starting as
low as $295 annually. Details at
http://email-museum.com/sponsorships.
Get Involved
1. Join the museum's launch webinar on Tuesday, March 27: 8:30am
Pacific/11:30am Eastern/4:30pm UK/5:30pm CET. Duration 45 minutes
Details and registration here. 2. Contact executive curator David
Ferris by phone at +1-415-367-3436, or via email 3. Browse or
contribute to museum content by visiting http://email-museum.com 4.
Sponsor the museum: visit email-museum.com/sponsorships 5. For more
information about the museum, visit email-museum.com/about
What people are saying about the Museum
"The museum's important, because it captures what happened from
the people who were actually there. I've got involved because I've
worked with communications technology for 30 years both as a user
and a software engineer." - Nigel Dutt, Founder of KVS, makers of
Enterprise Vault
"From its beginning to nowadays, email development went through
many technology changes. For me as a person who was involved in
some aspects, it's fun to remember and to contribute. The
importance of the email museum for me is that it documents the rise
of the very first computer based communication system, which had a
profound impact on the way organizations operate and ultimately on
the way of life of people." - Ralph Ehlers, Project Manager, F.
Hoffmann-La Roche AG
"We're living through a revolution in human communications of
unmatched scope and magnitude, and the museum is a tremendous
opportunity to document and archive each step along the way. Not
only will the museum document past ventures' successes and
failures, but it will also provide real business and educational
value in helping predict future trends." - Kieron Dowling, CEO,
Jatheon
"The museum serves as an important reminder that things can and
will change. For example, at one point in email history something
called X.400 was set to be the standard for business email exchange
and a lot of investment was sunk into the technology by many large
organizations. Organizations should expect change, embrace it and
budget for it over the years to come." - Barney Haye, Managing
Director, TransVault Software
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CONTACT INFORMATION: David Ferris Executive Curator The Museum
of Email & Digital Communications Email Contact +1-415-367-3436
www.email-museum.com