After 20 years with only minor changes, BlitzMail will receive a complete facelift. The upgrade, expected to be completed by fall 2009, could include a built-in calendar, threading capabilities, increased search options and a new design for the interface.
"[BlitzMail now] is like keeping a black and white TV in your house," Susan Warner, director of communications for Computing Services, said. "You can get the information that way, but why would you do that when there are so many richer methods?"
The BlitzMail upgrade is the project of the recently formed Task Force on Collaboration and Social Software, a group of students, faculty and staff who focus on "collaborative systems" to improve communication on campus. The task force was surprised to learn that most students do not use the BlitzMail client, and instead opt for web clients like Thunderbird or Gmail, because of BlitzMail's limited capabilities, according to Ellen Waite-Franzen, vice president of information technology and a member of the task force.
"More students, faculty and staff are talking about how unhappy they are with Blitz," Waite-Franzen said.
Students interviewed by The Dartmouth said they used Thunderbird and Gmail clients more often then BlitzMail because these clients offer more options, including calendars and other language capabilities. Students said they saw no downside to an upgrade of BlitzMail, but hoped the administration would preserve the ability to create BlitzMail nicknames and the immediateness with which BlitzMail messages are delivered.
"My perfect Blitz would be Thunderbird with BlitzMail [Dartmouth Name Directory] look-up capacity and bulletins," Stefan Uddenberg '11 said.
After learning of student discontent with BlitzMail, Waite-Franzen approached Student Assembly's Student Services Committee for help in soliciting input from the student body. Cory Cunningham '10, committee co-chair, set up three focus groups about BlitzMail. Cunningham is a member of The Dartmouth staff.
"[Focus groups] are less static," Warner said. "Students can reinforce or contradict each other. They can ask questions if they want."
Two students attended Thursday's focus group, where they discussed the future of BlitzMail, including the possibility of a web-based system and an embedded calendar.
"If BlitzMail had a planner, imagine how many people would use it," Doug Zarbock '10, who participated in Thursday's focus group, said. "We can populate the calendar with courses and events, and teachers can put up student deadlines."
The calendar could send reminders of important dates, similar to a function of Microsoft Outlook, and allow campus groups to coordinate their schedules, the focus group suggested.
The new BlitzMail should add a "drop box" feature to allow students who are collaborating on projects to update their assignments in one place instead of having to e-mail changes back and forth, Dmitriy Gutkovich '10, who participated in the focus group, suggested.
"You can pick a group, add a file and all [can] affect the project," Gutkovich said.
The new client should also preserve some of BlitzMail's current traits and features, the group suggested.
"It's got to be called Blitz," Zarbock said.
Students should still be able to suppress recipient lists, select specific quotations from e-mails to be included in response e-mails and request a return receipt on sent messages, they said.
"It's more than just an e-mail server -- it's our e-mail server," Gutkovich said. "Blitz has revolutionized communication on campus. It established a network."
BlitzMail is not the only college e-mail client facing trouble. A recent article in The Harvard Crimson claimed that Harvard University's e-mail system is "antiquated" and has a "poor interface." According to the article, 58 percent of students use other clients, like Gmail, which is a 20 percent leap from last year. Students at Princeton University are often forced to quit and re-load the page when the client's inbox does not show up, and students often find clients such as Thunderbird and Outlook more convenient, a February article in The Daily Princetonian reported.
