DIGITAL COLLECTIVE MEMORY
JOIN NEW ONLINE PLATFORM
AND COMMUNITY!
Europe's culture of remembrance is highly fragmented. Comparisons between countries reveal different national traditions in dealing with the history of National Socialism, occupation, Holocaust or forced labor, among others. These differences are due not least to regionally specific historical experiences and sociopolitical conditions. But even within a single country, the places, potentials and approaches to historical-civic education are often highly differentiated.
In such a complex situation, it is difficult to maintain an overview of the historical analysis, let alone the digital formats on offer or the actors involved in remembrance culture in Europe. In practice, terms such as "remembrance culture 4.0," "digital cultural heritage," or "digital memory" and "digital history" are used to locate corresponding projects, but their precise definition remains blurred. So far, there is no central place where people can come together across countries and exchange ideas about approaches, solutions, challenges, and common (or divergent) guidelines for digital memory culture.
Yet the rapid pace of technological innovation and the democratization of its application possibilities make it more necessary than ever to conduct such a discourse and to involve a diversity of actors. Today, we are dealing with a great number of "players" in the field, because it is no longer just the better-known and larger places and institutions that are the only ones involved in the production, processing and communication of historical content or learning materials. They are joined by many small private initiatives and projects, most of which are created on a voluntary basis or publicly funded. Dedicated, digitally experienced and content-savvy individuals or startups also belong to the field of digital remembrance culture.
Digital Collective Memory – a new community emerges
These considerations gave rise to the idea of establishing a central online platform where members of all institutions – large and small – as well as private individuals can exchange ideas about the use of digital technologies in the context of historical education. The Berlin-based EVZ Foundation, together with the think tank iRights.Lab, have now created such a central place for exchange.
We have launched a new community called Digital Collective Memory, which consists mainly, but not exclusively, of people from Central and Eastern Europe. Here, events can be announced and discussed, feedback on projects can be solicited, and resources can be shared. The EVZ Foundation and iRights.Lab are calling on researchers, practitioners, programmers, (game) designer, employees of museums and memorial sites and everyone else involved in the creation of digital tools for memory culture to become active members of the Community!
In the long run, a place of encounter and exchange like Digital Collective Memory will help to gain new perspectives for one's own work and to let them flow into the implementation of new offerings. In this way, the field of digital formats can further differentiate itself and offer meaningful points of contact in pluralistic societies. And that is precisely what is more important today than ever before. It is and must continue to be a concern to make the young target group in particular resistant to appropriation by right-wing extremist, populist, conspiracy-theory or inflammatory positions in the digital realm. The multitude of new actors revive discussions about "suitable" memorial formats and make history generally accessible to those who will no longer experience personal contact with contemporary witnesses, but have developed very specific demands for viewing and experiencing formats on the Internet.
How can you participate?
If you are active in the field of digital memory culture yourself, feel free to visit our platform! Anyone who wants to participate can register online. As soon as the registration is activated, the platform and all its functions are immediately available. Users are asked to create a profile that is as informative as possible to facilitate networking. If you wish, you can create a new group – a so-called space – to discuss a specific topic or project. On November 25, 2021, all members of the platform are invited to an online event dedicated to sharpen the profile of the community and further networking.
The Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (Foundation EVZ) and iRights.Lab invite you to become part of an online community dedicated to digital formats for historical-civic education. Under the name Digital Collective Memory, we have launched a platform that enables knowledge sharing, networking, online meetings and discussion.
EVZ Foundation / iRights.Lab