Article Title：The postcard as media
Abstract：
The study applies the idea that media discourse is typically public to an analysis of the open postcard. The postcard as product is seen as only one aspect of the social practice of postcarding, which is parasitic on the postal system, but ambivalent enough to also function as a parasitee for other media and social practices. The postcard is not per se designated to be public nor official, but postcards are nevertheless available for an indefinitely large group of people. The postcard is semi-public: it is explicitly personal (addressed to only one person), but implicitly public (since its text, picture and stamp are readily visible). Since the sender of a postcard cannot be sure who will read the postcard, he or she will typically adapt his/her linguistic expression on the postcard accordingly. Referring to earlier work (Laakso and Ostman 1999; Ostman and Laakso 1999), the article considers the institutional and discursive characteristics of the postcard and focuses (linguistically and semiotically) on the role of the postcard-at present and in an historical light-as the carrier of cultural values, and as the 'unofficial media' for minorities to maintain a feeling of togetherness and belonging, especially in times of hardship.
Keywords: genre; postcarding; ambivalence; semi-public; SMS; otherness
DOI: 10.1515/text.2004.017
Source：TEXT
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