Email and the Everyday: Stories of Disclosure, Trust, and Digital Labor

Description

An exploration of how email is experienced, understood, and materially structured as a practice spanning our everyday domestic and work lives. Despite its many obituaries, email is not dead. As a global mode of business and personal communication, email outstrips newer technologies of online interaction; it is deeply embedded in our everyday lives. And yet--perhaps because the ubiquity of email has obscured its study--this is the first scholarly book devoted to email as a key historical, social, and commercial site of digital communication in our everyday lives. In Email and the Everyday, Esther Milne examines how email is experienced, understood, and materially structured as a practice spanning the domestic and institutional spaces of daily life. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction The Death of Email Prominent Trends in Email Research Flaming and Affect Linguistics, Education, and Letter Writing Organizational Email and Workplace Surveillance Email Marketing and Business Etiquette Manuals The History of the Internet Media, Communications, and Cultural Studies Research Research Design and Critical Approach Book Structure and Chapter Outline I. Histories and Landscapes 1. The Origins of Email and Its Development Early Days Counter Claims ECOM and the United States Postal Service The Social and Technical Emergence of Email Protocols Attachments Reading the RFCs Email Header Design Conclusions 2. “Inventing Email” and Doing Media History Definitions and Staking Claims: V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai Publications and News Stories: Responses to Claims of Invention Ayyadurai’s Specific Innovation and the Conspiracy against Him Assessment of Ayyadurai’s Claims Ayyadurai’s Legal Actions: Gawker Ayyadurai’s Legal Actions: Techdirt Conclusions 3. The Email Industry The Size of the Email Market Email Service Providers Email Software Programs or “Clients” Case Study: Fastmail Email Marketing and Analytics Conclusions II. Affect and Labor 4. Bureaucratic Intensity and Email in the Workplace The Defining Features of Workplace Email Mapping Email Use in the Workplace Bureaucracy and Organizational Governance “Reply All” Disasters and Bureaucratic Intensity The Role of Emoji in Workplace Vernacular Conclusions 5. Moderation and Governance in Email Discussion Forums Different Types of Email Lists The Impact of Contemporary Email Discussion Lists and Groups List Moderation Conclusions III. Archives and Publics 6. The Enron Database and Hillary Clinton’s Emails Email Boundary Crossing: Public, Personal, Professional, and Private Domains Leaks, Hacks, Breaches, and Releases Case Studies: The Enron Database and Hillary Clinton’s Emails The Enron Email Corpus Hillary Clinton’s Emails Conclusions 7. The Art of Email Epistolary Literature and Mail Art ASCII Art and Email Signatures Sites and Practices of Email Art Conclusions Conclusion Stories of the Everyday Histories Markets Archives The Killer App Notes Introduction Chapter 1: The Origins of Email and Its Development Chapter 2: “Inventing Email” and Doing Media History Chapter 3: The Email Industry Chapter 4: Bureaucratic Intensity and Email in the Workplace Chapter 5: Moderation and Governance in Email Discussion Forums Chapter 6: The Enron Database and Hillary Clinton’s Emails Chapter 7: The Art of Email Conclusion Bibliography Index