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Post.Harvard, a new program of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA), may be seen by some as Harvard's long-awaited imprimatur on communication by e-mail. The new program, in development for about a year, provides all alumni of the University with the option of lifetime e-mail forwarding.
"This does not mean that Harvard will provide its graduates with e-mail accounts," HAA senior associate director Terry Shaller points out. "Rather, the University will provide alumni with a permanent address from which any e-mail received can be forwarded to their own personal accounts."
The service, Shaller says, is confidential and secure. When prospective users register, they list personal information that is then verified by HAA staff members. Once their identities are confirmed, they are allowed to sign up for the service. Shaller also notes that this technology is not the same as individual classes' or schools' listserves, which permit each subscriber to receive mass mailings, sent out by other classmates, of particular interest. "This is a tool to better individual communication among alumni," he explains.
There are two ways to register for the new service, which has been up and running since December 16. Alumni may register through the HAA website ("www.haa.harvard.edu"), which guides you through the basic steps of creating an alias, registering your current e-mail address, and searching for other classmates' addresses. Or you may submit all the relevant information, in writing, to the HAA at Post.Harvard, Wadsworth House, Cambridge 02138. The University suggests, via the on-line registration program, that you choose a standard alias comprising your name, school, and year of graduation, such as "John_Doe_COL59."
Shaller is convinced that the new service, free to all alumni but not available to current students, will be popular with the University's world-wide community. It offers, he notes, several advantages: a convenient way to change your e-mail address without informing every individual who communicates that way with you; an on-line search feature for other classmates who want to contact you; "and, of course, the cachet of a Harvard address."