Cultural Memory

The Internet has radically changed the way we live. Our perception of historical events is also changing due to the impact of the digital media.

History is a subjective matter. Personal memories, collective memory, knowledge and half-knowledge all help to shape each individual’s perception of historical events.

Pictures make history

Our image of history is always dependent on pictures as well. These might be images from films or TV or photographs in newspapers, magazines or, of course, history books. The collective memory which thus emerges is relatively well-researched. “The TV miniseries Holocaust, for example, which was a massive media event in its day, has been the subject of extensive academic study”, says Dr Erik Meyer from the Collaborative Research Centre for Memory Cultures at Justus Liebig University of Giessen. However, this applies primarily to the conceptual aspects. Reception research, which looks at how images shape our perceptions, of course trails behind, as it has to be based on long-term observations. The visualisation of history has long been a topic of interest for historians, as is borne out by the fact that “Geschichtsbilder” (i.e. Images of History) was the key topic on the agenda at the 46th session of the Deutscher Historikertag – the annual convention of German historians – in Konstanz in September 2006.

History in the Internet age

The most recent Historikertag, which was held in Dresden from 30 September to 3 October 2008, focussed among other things on the still relatively unexplored correlations between the Internet and history. In the session on Historische Erinnerung im Zeitalter des Internets (i.e. Historical Memory in the Internet age), Vadim Oswalt – also from Justus Liebig University – considered the issue of critiquing sources in the Internet age. He described the Internet as a massive storehouse of memories in which everyone can search for sources but also add their own. This, he argued, pushes traditional criticism of sources to its limits, for the sheer volume of sources but also their susceptibility to manipulation and constant amendment make it increasingly difficult to classify them and determine their quality.

The Internet has many different levels of significance for history and historiography. One of them is the virtual presence of real-life museums and memorials on the Internet. One example is LeMO (Lebendiges virtuelles Museum Online, i.e. Living Virtual Museum Online), which is sponsored by the German Historical Museum in Berlin and the Museum of Contemporary History in Bonn, Here the visitor can find over 1300 illustrated texts, more than 4000 digitalised exhibits, 875 biographies of well-known contemporary figures, 245 audio recordings and 200 videos, 134 chronicles as well as 120 statistics and maps. What Erik Meyer feels this type of Internet museum is lacking, however, is the interactive aspect: “The dramatic presentation of these Internet exhibitions is similar, in many respects, to that of a CD-ROM. The user’s active participation is often neglected, although LeMO, for example, attempts to find new ways of approaching collective memory”, says Meyer, who studied various providers as part of the project Visualisierung und Virtualisierung von Erinnerung – Geschichtspolitik in der medialen Erlebnisgesellschaft (i.e. Visualisation and Virtualisation of Memory – History Policy in the Media-based Experience-Oriented Society). “With other applications, more interactivity is possible. There is a stronger focus on participation”, says Meyer, and cites the Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names as one example. The purpose of this database is to personalise and visualise every victim of the Holocaust as far as possible. Users can also submit material and thus help to complete this online archive.

Eyewitnessing as a career

This typical Web 2.0 development, namely the generation of content by the user, has led to a boom in eyewitness accounts. Unlike television, where eyewitnesses tend to be deployed to make historical events more vivid, the Internet – according to Meyer – allows everybody to become an eyewitness to history. “This content does not conform to the logic of a conventional archive nor that of specialists who reflect on and verify the historical significance of statements as a prerequisite for their publication”, says Erik Meyer, whose specialist field of research is political communication. Another problem, says Meyer, is the cooption of historical topics by the commercial sector. “The presentation of contemporary history on the Internet is increasingly determined by criteria such as their entertainment value and commercial viability. This makes it impossible to fulfil any claim to serve the collective memory”, says Meyer.

PowerPoint historians

In the age of virtualisation and the opportunities afforded by Web 2.0, media presentation of historical themes has also become an important aspect in the training of historians. At the University of Berlin, for example, a Master’s programme in “Public History” has now been launched in response to the increased demand for sound professional skills in the collection and appropriate presentation of information about historical events. “This type of training programme can certainly be useful. Training without media skills has very little relevance to the demands of professional life”, says Meyer.