"One Does Not Simply Access Web Archives”: Challenges Related to Historicizing Online Virality
Valérie Schafer (University of Luxembourg)
Dienstag, 14. Jänner 2025, 17:00 Uhr
UR 09.23, Heinrichstraße 26, 2. Obergeschoß
This presentation aims to explore key issues of web archives and social media analysis, drawing on findings and experience from the collective HIVI project (A History of Online Virality, hivi.uni.lu), which concluded in 2024. The focus is on the challenges, opportunities and limits that arise when using born-digital sources to trace the evolution of “Internet phenomena” over time. The presentation will first examine questions related to Sources and Corpora - specifically, the challenges of preservation and of searchability within vast born-digital archives filled with “noise” and “silence”. Then, Transplatform and Transnational Studies are to be considered, highlighting for instance issues of interoperability across different platforms and institutions. The third part will discuss Analysis and Tools, and notably the need for scalable reading and contextualization. Finally, Maintenance and Dissemination Practices will be addressed, with a focus on FAIR principles for sustainable research in web archives and social media studies.
Valérie Schafer is a Professor in Contemporary European History at the C²DH (Centre for Contemporary and Digital History) at the University of Luxembourg and an Associate Researcher at the Center for Internet and Society (CNRS, France). She specialises in the history of computing, telecommunications and data networks. Her main research interests are the history of the Internet and the Web, of European digital cultures and infrastructures, and born-digital heritage. She is the principal investigator of the CD-Hist project, related to the history of CD-Roms and she previously led the HIVI project (2021-24), funded by the Luxembourg National Research Fund and dedicated to the history of online virality. She is a co-founder and editor of the journal Internet Histories. Digital Technology, Culture and Society.
Der Vortrag findet hybrid statt. Online-Zugang erhalten sie über folgenden Link
https://uni-graz.zoom.us/j/67960256487?pwd=ZqkaUX5wGfBFP7ToBvhzDE1HYgUpdm.1
Rückfragen richten Sie bitte an: sarah.knoll(at)uni-graz.at
Gefördert durch die Abteilung 12 – Wirtschaft, Tourismus, Wissenschaft und Forschung des Landes Steiermark.
Konzept und Organisation:
Christiane Berth, Institut für Geschichte, Arbeitsbereich Zeitgeschichte
Sarah Knoll, Institut für Geschichte, Arbeitsbereich Zeitgeschichte