[Air-l] Postal mail and e-mail

[Cox]

I've just finished reading The Victorian Internet and recommend it to this
list. There are some important lessons in it, though nothing in the way of
mass comm theory except that anecdotes will reinforce what you already know,
and very little specifically regarding snail mail. 

The book is mostly an historical account of the technical evolution of
telegraphy but aptly named as it reveals a great many social parallels
between the use of the telegraph network and the internet. For instance,
telegraphers were chatting online a century before AOL was thought of, even
to the point of romance and virtual marriage cerimonies. 

Having studied the differences between British and American online news
organizations I was particularly interested to learn that the philosophical
roots of these differences extend all the way back to the telegraph: "The
greatest difference between the telegraph systems of Europe and America is
that [in Europe], the telegraph is used principally for social
correspondence, here by businessmen for business purposes". (p.169)

Don Holeman





-----Original Message-----
From: air-l-aoir.org-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
[mailto:air-l-aoir.org-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Denise N.
Rall
Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2005 9:26 AM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: Re: [Air-l] Postal mail and e-mail

Dear Michael -

I think someone in this group built up some theory on what postal mail meant
to the Victorians (British).
Uh this is the only ref I can find to Victorians: 

Standage, T. (1998). The Victorian Internet : the remarkable story of the
telegraph and the nineteenth century's on-line pioneers. New York, Walker
and Co.

But from the Royal Mail you could pull it up to the 21st C. America. Maybe
there's a fun history out there on Hallmark cards????

Cheers, Denise




	

Denise N. Rall, PhD candidate, School of Environ. Science, Southern Cross
University, Lismore NSW 2480 Sustainable Forestry Mentoring Coordinator &
Internet Researcher Room T2.12, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 Tuesdays or Mobile 0438
233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/drall/index.html
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