Technology, Culture and Public History: The Digital Ecosystem as a Habitat for History

长期以来，技术和经济等领域一直重视“重新定义公共和私人领域之间的边界”的“数字生态系统”的概念(世界经济论坛(WEF)2019年)，认为这是一种了解信息如何在不同的数字平台和媒介上流动和接触的方式(例如Colugnati等人)。(编辑)2010年，世界经济论坛2007年，Feijóo等人。2009年，Darking等人。2008年，纳奇拉2004年)。新冠肺炎加强了人们对综合数字基础设施的理解，它似乎提供了对多个相互关联的知识领域的无缝按需访问，已经成为当代社会日常生活的一部分(例如Lazazzara等人)。(编辑)2020，Tofalvy&Barna 2020，Henry 2021，Susanto等人。2021年，梅里等人。2020)。到目前为止，很少有学者深入分析这些正在进行的通信发展是如何在不同的文化领域重塑与过去的社会接触的。我的研究与现有的关于数字生态系统的跨学科文献进行了批判性的接触，我的研究将使用精心挑选的研究来调查历史信息如何通过媒体内数字平台。我的硕士论文已经成为了这方面的试点，质疑了Netflix为促进和鼓励不同模式的跨平台公众参与《王冠》而采用的机制。将这一分析延伸到其他案例将促使人们对现有文献中常见的电影、电视、社交媒体、遗产和公共记忆之间的分歧进行批判性评估(例如，《媒体事件》Garde-Hansen 2011,2016；《跨学科》Burgoyne 2003,2008；《流媒体平台》McDonald 2016，Baker&Wiatrowski 2017，《社交媒体》A.Hoskins(编辑)2017；《电视》Gray&Bell 2012；《记忆研究》Cubitt 2014,2018；《数字遗产》Bowen&Giannini 2019)。关键问题包括：-我们如何最好地在不同类型的数字媒体上批判性地呈现历史，这些数字媒体既是用户主导的，也是制片人推动的？-数字历史内容的制作者和用户之间是什么机械关系，这如何影响用户的处理方式，在不同的数字环境中接收和理解关于过去的材料？-数字媒体如何响应这些不同的需求/动机/基础设施/参与者，以及这在受众之间有何不同？-全球社会经济和政治发展如何影响公共历史在“数字生态系统”中循环的方式？一组有意多样化的分析案例研究将分别探索数字媒体引发的一系列不同的互动。举三个例子--研究1(“汉密尔顿”)将跟踪从音乐剧到视频流再到社交媒体耸人听闻的段落中历史内容的重新配置；研究2(“Eva.Stories”项目)将询问以大屠杀为主题的社交媒体内容中传统教育和纪念策略的转变；研究3(“#BLM”)将展示如何在完全通过社交媒体推动的跨国政治运动中调动对历史的理解。优先考虑公众声音是这项研究的基石，它将利用社交媒体(如Twitter、TikTok)的参与以及传统的口述历史方法(如公共焦点小组、访谈)，以获得对数字领域历史知识生产者和消费者的实践、经验和动机的实践和理论见解。考察技术变革与历史知识的生产、流通和消费之间的关系，是当代文化史的一个重要维度。最终，它有可能鼓励历史学家自己如何在当今的数字文化互动中发挥参与者的作用。

Fields such as technology and economics have long valued the concept of 'digital ecosystems' which "redefine the boundaries between the public and private spheres" (World Economic Forum (WEF) 2019) as a way to understand how information circulates and is engaged with across different digital platforms and mediums (e.g. Colugnati et al. (eds.) 2010, WEF 2007, Feijóo et al. 2009, Darking et al. 2008, Nachira 2004). Covid-19 has reinforced understandings of just how essential integrated digital infrastructures, offering seemingly seamless on-demand access to multiple interconnecting realms of knowledge, have become to daily life in contemporary societies (e.g. Lazazzara et al. (eds.) 2020, Tofalvy & Barna 2020, Henry 2021, Susanto et al. 2021, Merry et al. 2020). To date, few scholars have analysed in any depth the ways in which these ongoing developments in communications are remodelling social engagements with the past across different realms of culture.Engaging critically with existing interdisciplinary literatures on the digital ecosystem, my research will use carefully selected studies to investigate the ways in which historical information traverses intra-medium digital platforms. My MA thesis has already served as a pilot for this, interrogating the mechanisms employed by Netflix to facilitate and encourage different modes of cross-platform public engagement with 'The Crown'. Extending this analysis through other cases will prompt critical evaluation of the divisions between, for example, film, television, social media, heritage and public memory, which are common in existing literature (e.g. 'media events' Garde-Hansen 2011, 2016; 'interdisciplinarity' Burgoyne 2003, 2008; 'streaming platforms' McDonald 2016, Baker & Wiatrowski 2017, 'social media' A. Hoskins (ed.) 2017; 'television' Gray & Bell 2012; 'memory studies' Cubitt 2014, 2018; 'digital heritage' Bowen & Giannini 2019).Key questions include:- How can we best engage critically with the presentation of history across different types of digital media which are both user-led and producer-pushed?- What is the mechanical relationship between producers of digital history content and users, and how does this affect how users treat, receive and understand material about the past across different digital habitats?- How does digital media respond to these different needs/motivations/ infrastructures/actors and how does this differ between audiences? - How do global socio-economic and political developments influence the ways in which public history circulates within the 'digital ecosystem'?An intentionally diverse set of analytical case studies will each explore a different set of interactions set in motion by digital media. To give three examples - study 1 ('Hamilton') will track the reconfiguration of historical content in the passage from musical theatre to video streaming to social media sensationalism; study 2 (the 'Eva.Stories' project) will interrogate the transformation of traditional educational and commemorative strategies in Holocaust-themed social media content; study 3 ('#BLM') will show how historical understanding is mobilised in a transnational political movement exclusively facilitated through social media. Prioritising the public voice is a cornerstone of the research, which will use social media (e.g. Twitter, TikTok) engagement as well as traditional oral history methodologies (e.g public focus groups, interviews) to gain practical, as well as theoretical, insights into the practices, experiences and motivations of producers and consumers of historical knowledge in the digital arena. Investigating the relationships between technological change and the production, circulation and consumption of historical knowledge addresses an important dimension of contemporary cultural history. Ultimately, it has the potential to encourage historians in how they themselves can function as participants in today's digital cultural interactions.