Life after E-mail...

E-mail has been around since 1971 when Ray Tomlinson sent the first networked e-mail. It was Mr. Tomlinson who decided that the @ symbol would be used to connect the user's name and the machine at which the mailbox is located.

Since the 1970's, e-mail has made some improvements, but it’s also remained relatively the same. It is not a sexy tool. There aren't a ton of bells and whistles. The overall design and functionality of electronic mail hasn't changed. We pick people to send mail to. We write our message. We send our message and we wait for a reply.

1996 saw the launch of Hotmail, the first web-based e-mail service. The web-based structure of Hotmail makes it much more assessable to the average person. Now you no longer needed to be connected to a company network or load your mail program (AOL) onto your local machine. E-mail could be accessed from any computer with an internet connection. Not surprising that Microsoft buys Hotmail for $400 million just one year later.

Two of the major IT initiatives that businesses are concentrating on today are Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and Social Media efforts. Both offer alternatives on how we communicate electronically to both internal and external co-workers and contacts. This threatens the existence of e-mail. Companies like Burberry, Virgin America, and CareerBuilder are implementing CRM tools like SalesForce Chatter Platform to replace e-mail. Chatter is the leading enterprise social network that allows teams to connect in a social networking environment to communicate.

Back in 2011, Mark Zuckerberg stated that “We don’t think a modern messaging system is going to be e-mail.” This came out at the same time that New York Times, ran an article suggesting that for college age students, e-mail is quickly going out of style. E-mail is being replaced by texting, instant messenger, Twitter, Facebook, CRMs, and Learning Management Systems. There is a common belief that in the future, most electronic communication will come in brief, informal bursts. In a survey to incoming freshmen at TCNJ, we asked about student’s use of e-mail and other electronic communications. The overall theme of the answers were "I text with my friends. I use e-mail to communicate with old people."

So what is next for e-mail? If e-mail has a future, what will it be? Like the travel agent who has to evolve to stay in business, what changes would e-mail have to make to stay alive? If there is no future, then what is the future for electronic communication going to be?

Tracking Students

In response to violence on college campuses and in our schools over the last decade, colleges and universities are faced with the daunting task of being responsible for their students whereabouts. 

Hurricane Sandy caused TCNJ to put a program into place to collect off campus addresses for those students who were not living in TCNJ housing but also not living in their parents permanent address.

Technology provides an ever growing number of tools that help keep track of student on campus and their activities.  Use of social locationing services is one such tool to track students across campus, to take attendance in class, or monitor use of facilities.

Another product, Campus Track by Opentech (opentech-us.com)  provides a means for student activities to be tracked via IDs throughout our campus.  The software would all us to "monitor activity, control privileges, keep a verifiable record of attendance, and create an electronic log to improve security."  While it’s impossible to know the whereabouts of every student on campus, this system allows us to manage traffic flow in and out of our facilities, and keep a record for our review if we ever need it.  Campus Track is a campus-wide activity tracking solution that will allow TCNJ to effortlessly track and authorize student access to:

• Academic facilities
• Recreational facilities
• Resource centers
• Events

In a way, our current ID card system already can do some of this, it would just be a matter of pulling the data together to see where and when  you swiped your card to pay for printing (implemented this semester), pay for coffee, or swipe into a residence hall or computer lab. 

The TCNJ EOF department has recently implemented an RFID tag system to track student activity.  A small, key chain size RFID tag was issued to each student in the EOF program.  When a student enters the office for a meeting, attends an event, or walks into the tutoring center, they will be asked to scan their tag.  Although this provides better service to the student, it also helps to track their activity.

Other similar devices, like BeHere app, use iBeacons to track students and take attendance.  iBeacons is a Bluetooth technology where your phone submits a single to beacons that are in the area.  BeHere is an app for the iPad where the iPad acts as the beacon.  As students enter the room the beacon identifies them by their cell phone signal and marks them as present.  This technology could easily be modified to put a beacon on each building and we could track your path across campus and instantly identify which building you are in or closest to.

What do you think of colleges using this?  Would you find it an invasion of privacy?  How could colleges use such technologies to better serve their students?