Who would have thought sending a greeting card would be so easy.
By Natasha Zelinsky
"We are entering an era when expression can be more participatory and alive."
Can't find the right card, design your own
When I was 10 years old, I remember standing in the card shop — searching for the perfect birthday card to send to my grandfather. The card needed the right message with the best picture on the cover. Minutes became hours, and hours became days until finally, the elusive card was found.The card didn't say exactly what I wanted and the picture was less than perfect, but lack of time forced my hand. I bought it, I sent it and I prayed it would be received in time for his birthday.
It was three days late.
Nowadays, the elusive greeting card I once searched for so diligently, can now be found — or rather created — with a few clicks of a button. The consumer no longer needs to worry about whether the selected, store-bought card will be right for the receiver, or rely on the postal service to get the card there on time.
E-greeting cards are now the quintessential way of sending a personalized message commemorating a special event or just to say hello. Convenient, accessible and easy to use, ages five to 95 can decide what message they want to convey and determine the quality of the image within the e-card.
Founded in 1910, by Joyce C. Hall, Hallmark Cards, Incorporated is one of the largest greeting card companies in the world. Credited with pioneering the sale of the inexpensive card, Hall later manufactured and published the greeting card for mass distribution. With consumers of the postwar era eager to purchase items stressing social acceptance, the greeting card made its mark and became a social custom. The public embraced this new form of social interaction.
Hallmark has transitioned through the years by cultivating society's need for interaction and communication. It has produced cards for every occasion, event and religious celebration. Proactive, rather than reactive, Hallmark's response to public trends has made the company more aware of its position in today's technological world.
Introducing its web-site in 1996, Hallmark joined the multimedia revolution. Its intent was to integrate technology with human interaction, providing new and existing customers with an opportunity to maintain relationships with greater ease. The consumerism movement was now in full swing
But Hallmark was not the first to be inducted into the world of interactivity. Hundreds of web sites, catering to customers wanting more than a quick e- mail, began to pop up in cyberspace. By accessing a standard search engine and typing in electronic greeting cards, users can choose from no less than 900 sites.
Sites like www.bluemountain.com, www.corbis.com and www.egreetings.com allow the user to plan, edit, create and determine their interactive experience. Consumers no longer need to step outside their home. Instead, society can now define its interaction by its ability to use technology to communicate and connect with others.
E-greeting cards, a popular medium for expression, gives the consumer the control to create or manipulate the design of the image or the message contained within the card. Nicholas Negroponte, author of Being Digital, says society's level of interactivity has heightened with the rise of technology. “We are entering an era when expression can be more participatory and alive. We have the opportunity to distribute and experience rich sensory signals in ways that are different from looking at the page of a book and more accessible than traveling to the Louvre.”
Regardless of age, old and young alike now have the opportunity to experience a world outside their front door with merely the flick of a computer's switch.
Recently, I sat down in front of my computer, anxious to access the usual array of crude jokes and chain letters that get sent to me regularly.
But one message caught my eye. As I double clicked on the attachment, I realized that I didn't recognize the sender. However, it was too late to stop the familiar humming and snapping of my computer as it downloaded the image onto the screen.
It was an e-card. My 95-year-old grandfather — with the assistance of some nurses at his nursing home — decided to send me a “Good luck” e-card for starting school. Although simple in it's design, it reached out and hugged me. "Sorry darlin’, it's a little late in coming. I never realized it was so easy" he wrote.
Natasha Zelinsky is in her first year as a Multimedia student at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. She hopes to one day become an entrepreneur, creating and designing interactive web sites and to eventually be referred to as "webmaster extraordinaire."
Source list
Hall, Joyce C. with Curtiss Anderson. When You Care Enough. Kansas City, Missouri: Hallmark Cards, Inc., 1992
Hamilton, Anita. OnLine Greetings", Time Magazine, March 22nd, 1999.
Information and Communications Technologies. Early Advertising. Calgary, Alberta: Southern Alberta Institute for Technology, August 2000.
Negroponte, Nicholas. Being Digital. New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1995.
Thanks to Jan Scott, Hallmark Consumer Affairs, Hallmark Cards, Incorporated.
www.hallmark.com
www.britannica.com
www.sapient.com
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