Typology Issues of Commemoration Practices in New Media

Abstract

This article addresses the transformation of cultural and communicative memory in the digital space of “new media.” A comparative analysis of three classification options for commemoration practices in “new media” is presented, including R. Smith, L. Zamboni, M. Gibson, and K. Carden. The article examines the transformation of mechanisms of social ties offline and online and argues that commemoration practices in “new media” are increasingly based on simulacra and representations in the media that are recognized by users, rather than personal or historical experience. The article also focuses on the problem of nostalgia and argues that its popularity in social networks and video games is related to a longing for stable symbolic and social ties rather than a specific historical period or its aesthetics. Commemoration practices in social networks and video games involve not only digitization but also active modification of old media, built on a dual logic of recognizability of past images and hypermediation that gives players or users a certain degree of freedom to choose affordances.