3617 Pages

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3617 PAGES

3617 PAGES is known to be the phonebook of Minitel, where you are able to connect to others and communicate while using your email. In this YouTube video , you see a man sitting at his desk all calm, cool, and collected. However, as stacks of paper begin to pile up and continue to as well, the expressions on his face show that he is confused, overwhelmed, and stressed. In conclusion, he is not a fan of the overbearing stacks of paper in front of him. But when the paper disappears and a computer magically appears right in front of his eyes, he seems to be able to relax and looks relieved and content. He no longer seems to be worrying. Well, in this case, Minitel and it’s services were able to produce an easy way to communicate with others, while allowing one to be able to address themselves when sending a message.


As the Internet continues to grow to this day, the internet has become a form of communication for almost anyone in any place around the world. In 1996, the telephone was around, but people started depending more on their computers and the internet to communicate with others. With telephones, you would have a phonebook that would allow you to find a person, store, organization, etc. to call, without having to remember their phone numbers. 3617 PAGES was a phonebook but for online communication, specifically email. With this virtual phonebook, the program would allow your signature when sending emails, but it would automatically write your email as your signature so the person receiving the message knew who and where it was coming from. This helped communication in-between people become easier, especially when knowing who it is from at a quicker rate.


The one source I was able to find on 3617 PAGES stated that the address databases were like a tree and said, “An electronic address reflects the tree organization on the Internet, a tree which the users are the leaves” (Dauchot 1996). This allows everyone to be able to connect and communicate with one another. With this advancement and adjustment for communication, not only were emails being shared but other information about someone could also be included. The email address states where the message is coming from, but one could write about and give further information about oneself. With this positive step with communication, people began to believe that this is not the end of finding better ways to address each other through the internet. People had hoped that there was more to come, and since everyone started to become more dependent on the internet’s capabilities, more was bound to happen at some point in the future. And as I am here writing this, here we are.

Sources:

DAUCHOT Olivier. “A LA RECHERCHE D’UNE ADRESSE E-MAIL”. NETSOURCES . 01 décembre 1996. https://advance.lexis.com/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:4B1P-CJF0-TWK5-T2HT-00000-00&context=1516831.

Le Programme Télévisé. “Publicité 3617 Pages I 5,57 F La Minute Les Pages Internationales Sur Minitel.” YouTube. Accessed September 30, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyQ7j3XV6sE.

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