Digital networked media and social memory. Theoretical foundations and implications

Abstract

The article discusses the potential of the internet and especially of the world wide web as a medium for collective remembrance. First, the theoretical ground is laid by outlining three concepts of memory. Here, the emphasis lies on how media are conceptualized in relation to cultural memory. In a second step, these theoretical premises are connected to an understanding of discourse as social cognition. As such, we argue, it forms the integral part of memory work and can also have its place in computer-mediated communication. On this basis, the web is viewed as a medium of and for memory work constituted by discursive practices which form cultural memory.