[Air-l] Postal mail and e-mail

[Ledbetter, Andrew Michael]

I am currently writing a literature review on how various communication modalities are used in interpersonal contexts. One modality I am (not surprisingly) finding little material on is postal mail. In particular, I am looking for sources that either (a) address changes in postal mail use with the advent of e-mail or (b) qualitative comparisons of the use of postal mail and e-mail within interpersonal relationships. In particular, I have heard anecdotal reports of e-mail being more "convenient" but postal mail being "special" in a way that e-mail is not, though I have not found scholarly material that documents this perception.
 
Does anyone know of scholarly articles that address these issues?
 
Thanks,
Andrew
 
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Andrew M. Ledbetter
Ph.D. student, University of Kansas