The user is dead, long live the platform? Problematising the user-centric focus of (digital) memory studies

Makhortykh, Mykola (2023). The user is dead, long live the platform? Problematising the user-centric focus of (digital) memory studies. Memory studies, 16(6), pp. 1500-1512. Sage 10.1177/17506980231202849

Preview

Text makhortykh-2023-the-user-is-dead-long-live-the-platform-problematising-the-user-centric-focus-of-_digital_-memory.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial (CC-BY-NC). Download (167kB) | Preview

The rise of digital technologies has caused a major shift in memory studies. The unprecedented possibilities for storing and retrieving information enabled by platforms not only expand capacities for preserving memory-related content for individuals and collectives but also challenge existing memory power structures. An integral constituent of the scholarly assessment of these transformations is the increased focus on the memory actors’ agency and connectivity. Despite the importance of such a user-centric focus, the article argues that it can be limiting for the field of (digital) memory studies conceptually and methodologically. Under the condition when platforms and their algorithms turn into (hegemonic) memory actors themselves and determine what data memory scholars and the general public can (not) access, there is a pressing need for critically revisiting the key assumptions about memory in the digital age. To address this need, the article discusses the fundamental premises of a more infrastructure-centric approach to memory studies together with the conceptual and methodological implications of its adoption for studying individual and collective remembrance.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

27 since deposited on 12 Feb 2024
27 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item