Geoadria, Vol. 31 No. 1, 2026.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.15291/geoadria.5066
Digital postcard collection analysis model: application in geography
Ivana Crljenko
orcid.org/0000-0002-1315-0644
; University of Zadar, Department of Teacher Education Studies in Gospić, Gospić, Republic of Croatia
*
Boris Blažina
; The Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography, Zagreb, Republic of Croatia
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Since the 1970s, academic researchers in various fields have shown significant interest in postcards, both as a subject of research and as its source. Numerous studies published to date mostly describe and interpret representative examples of postcards or analyse all postcards in a collection with respect to several selected characteristics, but without discussing the applied model of analysis. Therefore, the objectives of this study are: 1) to establish a model of the analysis of digital postcard collections; 2) to apply the model to the quantitative analysis of the geographical content of the postcards. The objectives follow from the study’s purpose, which is to highlight the applicability of postcard collections in geographical and other types of research. The research on which the study is based included several methods: a) content analysis for the purpose of the quantitative analysis of qualitative data and for the purpose of the classification and categorisation of attributes; b) descriptive statistics for the purpose of calculating the frequency of the appearance of certain attributes and for the purpose of their graphic representation; c) exemplary method, for the purpose of a detailed analysis of geographical data, as an example of the application of the model. Content analysis relied primarily on classification and categorisation. The analysis also revealed numerous limitations in relation to the grouping of the postcards, which explains, to a degree, the authors’ reluctance to divide many postcards into distinct groups. The research results reveal that a postcard collection, if understood as a complete set of different data, may present an abundant source of research, once the data is defined, classified and categorised, considering that a collection organised in this manner would reveal data and relations which would not have been obvious had the postcards been studied separately, individually, or in small groups. In geographical research, the motifs of images can be used as the basis of in-depth qualitative research, especially if it is aimed at identifying morphological, functional, demographic, or wider social and symbolic changes in space.
Keywords
model of analysis; digitised postcards; postcard collection; National and University Library; geography
Hrčak ID:
349535
URI
Publication date:
31.7.2026.
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