One of the nice things about email (which, tragically is in the process of being strangled by replacement of standards by various proprietary alternatives -- looking at you gmail) is that it is generally possible to move it from one host to another, thereby theoretically keeping hold of it.
I still have emails from 1989. I thought that I had one from my Mum, from 1987, but I can't find it at the moment. So yes, it can be kept, but it takes effort.
The other nice thing about email as a filing system is that it is somewhat self-documenting: it has a Subject line, and metadata about who it was from, or to, and lots of other things that generally don't concern us, but are interesting or useful anyway.
Somewhere in my hotmail account (see below) will be a 2001 email from the Dept of Immi telling me and Mrs W that she has indeed qualified for Australian residency and that we can get her passport accordingly endorsed. I haven't thought about that in years but it'd be nice to dig out and admire just how byzantine the process was.
I think this is going to cause problem (not necessarily big world problems) but with communication ie email's and photos going digital and rarely being printed, people are going to lose so much history
One of the nice things about email (which, tragically is in the process of being strangled by replacement of standards by various proprietary alternatives -- looking at you gmail) is that it is generally possible to move it from one host to another, thereby theoretically keeping hold of it.
I still have emails from 1989. I thought that I had one from my Mum, from 1987, but I can't find it at the moment. So yes, it can be kept, but it takes effort.
The other nice thing about email as a filing system is that it is somewhat self-documenting: it has a Subject line, and metadata about who it was from, or to, and lots of other things that generally don't concern us, but are interesting or useful anyway.
Somewhere in my hotmail account (see below) will be a 2001 email from the Dept of Immi telling me and Mrs W that she has indeed qualified for Australian residency and that we can get her passport accordingly endorsed. I haven't thought about that in years but it'd be nice to dig out and admire just how byzantine the process was.
I think this is going to cause problem (not necessarily big world problems) but with communication ie email's and photos going digital and rarely being printed, people are going to lose so much history
Still got and use my hotmail account. That dates me, I'm sure.
Your time has passed, old man.
Me too!! I think I will leave it to my favourite child.
I still use my Ozemail address - and they ceased to exist years ago!