Browse Exhibits (1 total)

Tickets exist in an odd limbo of everyday writing – thousands of them are printed every day, so it can be easy to dismiss these artefacts as mass-produced. They consist of electronically imputed data onto paper; a series of words or letters, numbers, and symbols, but further examination allows for a shift from data to knowledge and emotion – the artifact can invoke thoughts, feelings, and memories from the events surrounding the moment it was received. Nancy et. Al state; “A central characteristic of these approaches to everyday writing is their attention to the mundane, ubiquitous writing practices of the non-elite, the marginalized, and the invisible;” characteristics that can easily be attributed to anyone who holds a ticket. They mark journeys, commemorate events, or permit in the participation of a hobby, and each ticket could be considered a snapshot of an individual’s experience. They are a unique and tangible memento of an event that can easily be carried, saved, and cherished.

The items can vary through date, time, location, and design. As Estrem states in Writing is a Knowledge Making Activity, “Texts where this kind of knowledge making takes place can be formal or informal, and they are sometimes ephemeral… These texts are generative and central to meaning making even though we often don't identify them as such.” Such is the nature of a ticket: a formal but ephemeral item from which a wealth of knowledge can be collected – means of travel, genre preferences, hobbies, and key life events, (to name a few) – to draw meaning from.