<s>
The	O
Electronic	B-Protocol
Information	I-Protocol
Exchange	I-Protocol
System	I-Protocol
(	O
EIES	B-Protocol
,	O
pronounced	O
eyes	O
)	O
was	O
an	O
early	O
online	B-Protocol
conferencing	I-Protocol
bulletin	B-Application
board	I-Application
system	I-Application
that	O
allowed	O
real-time	B-General_Concept
and	O
asynchronous	O
communication	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Funded	O
by	O
the	O
National	O
Science	O
Foundation	O
and	O
developed	O
from	O
1974-1978	O
at	O
the	O
New	O
Jersey	O
Institute	O
of	O
Technology	O
(	O
NJIT	O
)	O
by	O
Murray	O
Turoff	O
based	O
on	O
his	O
earlier	O
EMISARI	O
done	O
at	O
the	O
now-defunct	O
Office	O
of	O
Emergency	O
Preparedness	O
,	O
EIES	B-Protocol
was	O
intended	O
to	O
facilitate	O
group	O
communications	O
that	O
would	O
allow	O
groups	O
to	O
make	O
decisions	O
based	O
on	O
their	O
collective	O
intelligence	O
rather	O
than	O
the	O
lowest	O
common	O
denominator	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EIES	B-Protocol
remained	O
in	O
use	O
for	O
decades	O
because	O
its	O
users	O
"	O
just	O
would	O
n't	O
let	O
go	O
"	O
of	O
it	O
,	O
eventually	O
adapting	O
it	O
for	O
legislative	O
,	O
medical	O
and	O
even	O
spiritual	O
uses	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
mid-1980s	O
,	O
a	O
new	O
version	O
called	O
EIES-2	O
was	O
developed	O
to	O
research	O
the	O
implementation	O
of	O
group	O
communications	O
in	O
distributed	O
environments	O
,	O
versus	O
the	O
centralized	O
time-sharing	B-General_Concept
environment	O
used	O
for	O
the	O
first	O
version	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EIES-2	O
had	O
an	O
object	B-Application
database	I-Application
architecture	O
using	O
over	O
2	O
dozen	O
classes	O
and	O
implementing	O
a	O
notion	O
of	O
activities	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
a	O
standardized	O
interface	O
for	O
implementing	O
nonstandard	O
functions	O
such	O
as	O
polls	O
or	O
list-gathering	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
activities	O
concept	O
was	O
similar	O
to	O
what	O
would	O
be	O
done	O
in	O
today	O
's	O
message	B-Application
board	I-Application
applications	O
using	O
plug-ins	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
EIES-2	O
ran	O
on	O
Unix	B-Application
and	O
was	O
written	O
in	O
the	O
programming	O
languages	O
C	B-Language
and	O
Smalltalk	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
EIES-2	O
used	O
the	O
X.400	B-Protocol
database	O
standards	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
his	O
book	O
The	O
Virtual	O
Community	O
,	O
Howard	O
Rheingold	O
called	O
EIES	B-Protocol
"	O
the	O
lively	O
great-great-grandmother	O
of	O
all	O
virtual	O
communities	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EIES	B-Protocol
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
earliest	O
instances	O
of	O
groupware	B-Application
,	O
if	O
not	O
the	O
earliest	O
,	O
and	O
some	O
users	O
contend	O
it	O
is	O
where	O
the	O
term	O
was	O
coined	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
editors	O
of	O
the	O
Whole	O
Earth	O
Software	O
Catalog	O
set	O
up	O
a	O
private	O
conference	O
on	O
EIES	B-Protocol
where	O
they	O
could	O
collaborate	O
on	O
software	O
reviews	O
from	O
around	O
the	O
US	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Along	O
with	O
serious	O
research	O
,	O
there	O
were	O
diversions	O
like	O
the	O
"	O
EIES	B-Protocol
Soap	O
Opera	O
"	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
a	O
series	O
of	O
stories	O
written	O
collaboratively	O
by	O
the	O
service	O
's	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Working	O
groups	O
from	O
different	O
corporations	O
used	O
EIES	B-Protocol
to	O
collaborate	O
,	O
some	O
working	O
exclusively	O
from	O
home	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EIES	B-Protocol
gave	O
an	O
early	O
glimpse	O
of	O
the	O
challenges	O
of	O
work	O
–	O
life	O
balance	O
and	O
pointed	O
the	O
way	O
toward	O
hypertext	O
and	O
gamification	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Notable	O
users	O
included	O
Alvin	O
Toffler	O
,	O
Peter	O
&	O
Trudy	O
Johnson-Lenz	O
,	O
Barry	O
Wellman	O
,	O
and	O
Whole	O
Earth	O
editor-in-chief	O
Stewart	O
Brand	O
,	O
who	O
was	O
influenced	O
by	O
EIES	B-Protocol
to	O
develop	O
The	O
WELL	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
its	O
peak	O
EIES	B-Protocol
had	O
more	O
than	O
2000	O
subscribers	O
from	O
various	O
government	O
agencies	O
,	O
large	O
corporations	O
and	O
educational	O
institutions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Western	O
Behavioral	O
Sciences	O
Institute	O
ran	O
a	O
private	O
conference	O
called	O
the	O
School	O
of	O
Management	O
and	O
Strategic	O
Studies	O
,	O
of	O
which	O
Harlan	O
Cleveland	O
was	O
a	O
member	O
,	O
and	O
starting	O
in	O
1985	O
,	O
Connected	O
Education	O
offered	O
the	O
first	O
completely	O
online	O
masters	O
degree	O
on	O
the	O
"	O
Connect	O
Ed	O
campus	O
"	O
that	O
they	O
created	O
on	O
EIES	B-Protocol
,	O
including	O
a	O
cafe	O
,	O
bookstore	O
,	O
and	O
library	O
with	O
the	O
MA	O
in	O
Media	O
Studies	O
granted	O
by	O
The	O
New	O
School	O
in	O
New	O
York	O
City	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
legacy	B-Device
system	I-Device
lacking	O
support	O
for	O
multimedia	O
or	O
file	O
attachments	O
,	O
EIES	B-Protocol
was	O
shut	O
down	O
in	O
2000	O
,	O
despite	O
NJIT	O
's	O
inability	O
to	O
locate	O
a	O
replacement	O
with	O
equivalent	O
performance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
time	O
of	O
its	O
shutdown	O
,	O
EIES-2	O
held	O
6	O
GB	O
of	O
stored	O
data	O
,	O
and	O
could	O
serve	O
1,000	O
concurrent	O
users	O
with	O
an	O
average	O
response	O
time	O
of	O
under	O
15	O
seconds	O
.	O
</s>
