Meta Collab

Electronic mail or email is a simple tool for asynchronous collaboration in the textual medium. It allows users to send text messages over an electronic network from one machine to another -- usually between computers. Although a simple tool, email has proven to be a highly robust and effective collaborative medium.

Pros[]

  • Its asychnronous and textual nature allows for the mediation of conflicting schedules and timezones, enabling more effective communication and collaboration across the potential gulfs of space (national/international), time (timezones/individual schedules) and culture (like writing a letter, one may take their time with responses, aiding in language barriers).
  • Collaboration via email (like other web-based mediums) allows for more easily overcoming cross and inter cultural issues, as its dissembodied nature may bridge social differences more redily.

Cons[]

Email list serves[]

(write about this form of collaboration, linking to coauthoring.)

Related protocols and standards include

  • SMTP
  • IP
  • ascii

There are many different email applications, some examples are

  • Microsoft's Outlook
  • Web-based, such as Yahoo!'s or Hotmail
  • Pine
  • Lotus Notes

Compare to

  • chat tools
  • discussion (threaded, on-line, topic-based messages)