Georgetown University LogoGeorgetown University Library LogoDigitalGeorgetown Home
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   DigitalGeorgetown Home
    • Georgetown University Institutional Repository
    • Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
    • Communication, Culture & Technology Master of Arts Program (CCT)
    • Graduate Theses and Dissertations - Communication, Culture & Technology
    • View Item
    •   DigitalGeorgetown Home
    • Georgetown University Institutional Repository
    • Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
    • Communication, Culture & Technology Master of Arts Program (CCT)
    • Graduate Theses and Dissertations - Communication, Culture & Technology
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Private Post: Personal Messaging in U.S. Postal and Electronic Mail

    Cover for Private Post: Personal Messaging in U.S. Postal and Electronic Mail
    View/Open
    View/Open: Kielty_georgetown_0076M_14027.pdf (1.0MB) Bookview

    Creator
    Kielty, Rebecca
    Advisor
    Osborn, J.R.
    Abstract
    The U.S. Postal Service and commercial email emerged from the same country in different eras. Both are communication networks, but each born out of unique needs. Revolutionaries needed a means to send messages and news, untrammeled by British surveillance. Researchers using the Arpanet in the 1960s and 1970s turned their networked computers to the task of relaying messages, to share research and chat amongst each other. From these origins, the networks were adopted by military members, businesses, and eventually brought into U.S. homes. This work explores the two networks’ development trajectories, with special attention to when each network is used to transmit personal or private messages. The author asks, are analogies used to link the older postal mail network and the email products home users adopted in the 1990s? And do such analogies create potential for privacy harms, given the functional and legal differences between postal mail and email in the U.S.?
     
    To answer this, each trajectory was mapped in reviews of literature, and interviews were conducted with experts in U.S. communication history, internet consumer privacy, and the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum. The author concludes that there is some evidence of postal analogies used to understand email, but that further research is needed to ascertain whether this influences home users. The differences between the way messages in each network are accessed for legal and business purposes do have impacts for users’ privacy, and in closing the author offers suggestions for how this information could be presented to a public audience.
     
    Description
    M.A.
    Permanent Link
    http://hdl.handle.net/10822/1050749
    Date Published
    2018
    Subject
    communication; email; privacy; United States Postal Service; Social sciences -- Research; United States -- History; Information technology; Social research; American history; Information technology;
    Type
    thesis
    Publisher
    Georgetown University
    Extent
    96 leaves
    Collections
    • Graduate Theses and Dissertations - Communication, Culture & Technology
    Metadata
    Show full item record

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Cover for Implications of Electronic Mail and Message Systems for the U.S. Postal Service

      Implications of Electronic Mail and Message Systems for the U.S. Postal Service 

      Communications and Information Technology Program (F. B. Wood) (United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment., 1982-08)
    Related Items in Google Scholar

    Georgetown University Seal
    ©2009 - 2023 Georgetown University Library
    37th & O Streets NW
    Washington DC 20057-1174
    202.687.7385
    digitalscholarship@georgetown.edu
    Accessibility
     

     

    Browse

    All of DigitalGeorgetownCommunities & CollectionsCreatorsTitlesBy Creation DateThis CollectionCreatorsTitlesBy Creation Date

    My Account

    Login

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Georgetown University Seal
    ©2009 - 2023 Georgetown University Library
    37th & O Streets NW
    Washington DC 20057-1174
    202.687.7385
    digitalscholarship@georgetown.edu
    Accessibility