Electronic Communication for Mail-Artists

We have seen quite a developement in the electronic communicationforms that mail-artists use. Here is just a short overview as how I have seen it:

BBS

The Bulletin Board Services were Host computers that people could call. They would contain information. This was the pre-Internet time. My own TAM-Bulloetin was available on several BBS-computers, and during a few years my computer himself funtioned as a BBS.

E-MAIL

The mail-artists started to send eachother e-mail. After a few years with attachments. This is on one-to-one basis. Also in the time of the BBS, but the Internet made it all more available.

E-ZINES

The mail-artists start to gather mail-art information and send it to a senderlist. The file normally contains lots of mail-art projects. Guy Bleus and Chuch Welch were the first to do this. I myself also followed with the TAM-Bulletin, but at that time the mail-art sites appeared.

SITES

Yes, publish your own sites. But in the beginning it was a one-way street. The only interactive side was the guestbook where people could leave their messages. My own IUOMA site started in 1996.

FORUMS

A server that contains a forums allows all (registered or not) users to leave and react to messages. Mostly devided in several groups. This is the Internet version of the BBS.

GROUPS

In groups there are more functions available. Like the collections of images, files, polls, messages, databases, etc. There is a moderator that sees to it that all runs smoothley.

BLOG - WEBLOG

The BLOG is the newest and hotest subject now. A mail-artist can really show what he is interested in, and visitors can leave messages (comments) when the owner allows this.

What will come next? I just will give one sample. If a mail-artists would attach a webcam to hiw computer that shows how he sends out his e-mail , snail-mail, etc. That would be a new thing for mail-art. But I wonder what way this all goes. The online community of mail-artists still sends out envelopes and cards. But when that vanishes and we only communicate in an electronic way. is that still mail-art?

Ruud