Connective Remembering: Digital Memory and Media Generations
This paper presents findings from a pilot study which aims to examine how digital memory is produced, consumed and interpreted by different media generations. It is premised that media and mediatization play an increasingly prominent role in the formation of generations and certain common experiences. Mnemonic socialization and memory practices differ with changing communication technologies and media environments. The study focuses on the "connective turn" (Hoskins, 2011) brought forth by digital technologies in the field of memory studies.
Memory is ubiquitous and all-encompassing in our lives. At an individual level, personal memory is important as it helps to develop a sense of coherence about oneself and also a sense of direction to understand one's inner worlds. At a societal level, memory matters because it is ultimately about what a society remembers collectively. Collective memory is bound to be processual and partial. Studies have emphasized on the social contexts for individual remembrance. The key concerns lie with the selection, construction, reconfiguration, contestation and negotiation of these memories.
Connective remembering shares similar concerns with individual memory and collective memory. However, with the invention of new "machines of memory", "perfect memory" and "technological unconscious" are becoming more commonplace. Digital memory is therefore not only about remembering but also about mediation and remediation. Memory objects are increasingly digitized, which unlike material memory objects, are more prone to manipulation. In brief, digital memory is "pervasive, accessible, disposable, distributed and promiscuous". These characteristics present different challenges in making sense of the changing meanings and functions of memory in our everyday lives.
This study interviews members from three different media generations, which roughly corresponds to the pre-internet era, arrival of internet and social media. Generational differences have been found in past studies about memory of national and global events. People from different age cohorts remember and rank historical events differently. The critical age hypothesis argued that memory formed between the ages of 17 to 25 have a more lasting impact (Mannheim, 1972). This research analyses the now pervasive phenomenon of digital memory with a media generation perspective. It aims to understand memory practices adopted by different media generations and collect their perspectives about major issues of digital memory. Interviewees are invited to share how they use media to produce personal memory items (production and generation of memory), how they share personal memory with others (distribution) and how they store, archive, retrieve and use such memory (consumption). Concerns about the ubiquity, persistence and flexibility of digital memory will also be collected and discussed.
