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Three Phases of Digital Holocaust Memory Development

By Professor Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden Through artificial intelligence, machine learning, crowdsourcing, digitisation, VR, AR and computer games, we take you on a tour of some of the world’s most prolific digital Holocaust memory initiatives by way of the theory of the ‘three stages’ of development. To argue that there are three phases of digital Holocaust memory development is not to suggest a clear and simple historical chronology from the 1990s – when digital technologies were first introduced into this arena – to now. Rather, this proposition offers a framework for mapping the different types of approaches organisations take when adopting digital media for the sake of Holocaust memory. These three phases are: the experimental, the normative, and the connective, and they define the different relationships organisations have with digital technology and cultures through their work. Let’s take a closer look at each of them. Experimental Phase This phase acknowledges periods of enthusiasm for a new medium, often led by a ‘what if?’ curiosity among a handful of digital advocates or a desire to shake up the status quo. During this phase, creators are explorative and playful with a medium’s possibilities, they’re not afraid to take risks and can be inquisitive [...]

By |2024-11-11T14:29:45+00:0023 October 2024|
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Spotlight on Melbourne Holocaust Museum

by Victoria Grace Walden In perhaps the most unusual way to return from maternity leave, my first day back involved a 24-hour journey from the UK to Melbourne, Australia (and yes, with the baby!). When I originally got in contact with Anna Hirsh – now Manager of Collections and Research at the museum and the fabulous host of my scholar-in-residence – she was working at what was then called Melbourne’s Jewish Holocaust Centre and in 2020 the site closed its doors for a major refurbishment and rebranding. A Long History of Multimedia At that time, staff created a virtual walkthrough of the main exhibition to archive its existence. Now it was closed (as it would have been – pandemic or not), school groups and other visitors could explore its content. This was not just a photo-realist experience of the exhibition space though; it was enhanced by extra video content such as behind-the-scenes moments with curators (Curators’ Corner series) and importantly mini-tours from survivors explaining some of the exhibited materials - much of this additional content came from existing digital projects. Jewish Holocaust Centre Melbourne Virtual Tour The centre was established by a survivor community, opening in March 1984. [...]

By |2024-11-28T11:14:11+00:0026 September 2024|
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Building a Digital Holocaust Memory Lab, Part 2:  Defining Our Values

by Prof Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden In Part 2 of our ‘Building a Lab’ series, our director Victoria explains how we’re establishing ourselves as a research team, moving beyond our objectives and outcomes to focus on the values that inform who we are, how we work, and how we’ll go about achieving them.   It is not very often, in academia, that you get the opportunity to ‘start from scratch’. The launch of the Landecker Digital Memory Lab this year, however, has allowed us to break the mould. Building a new team from the ground up means we’ve had the chance to start by thinking about who we are as a team and what values we want to underpin our work over the next five years –in terms of how we work together and with others, and our outputs. The mission statement of the Lab was set in our project proposal: to ensure the Holocaust sector is better equipped for the digital age. Our work now was to inform this ambitious goal with core values and a clear vision. Over the first few weeks, I led an intensive induction programme for the Lab’s new team to bring us all together and [...]

By |2024-11-28T11:15:30+00:0023 September 2024|
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Beyond the Single Story, Part 2

by Austin Xie, International Junior Research Associate, The University of Chicago, in conversation with Prof Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden Austin Xie has spent two months at the Landecker Digital Memory Lab on the University of Sussex’s International Junior Research Associates (IJRA) programme. He tells us about what he’s learned and elaborates on the design of his own Holocaust-themed game, along with the ethical challenges he encountered. Dr Victoria Richardson-Walden: you’ve been working on a practice-based research project considering the challenges and opportunities the medium of computer games might offer to Holocaust memory and education.  What did you learn from studying existing games? Austin Xie: The majority of Holocaust games fall into two categories: Nazi-killing games, and what I’d consider more Holocaust memory games than Holocaust games. They take place after the Holocaust, and usually involve a character trying to uncover the story of a relative by investigating artefacts or talking to people. Their gameplay is that of remembering the Holocaust, rather than the Holocaust itself. Games other than the Nazi-killing ones circumvent the problem of a Holocaust victim/survivor game through a variety of strategies, like setting the game after the Holocaust, creating a fictional world that is an allegory for the [...]

By |2024-11-28T11:16:26+00:0018 September 2024|
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AI and the Future of Holocaust Memory

by Prof Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden, in conversation with Dr Mykola Makhortykh and Maryna Sydorova In November, Mykola Makhortykh and Maryna Sydorova from the University of Bern will join the Landecker Digital Memory Lab as visiting researchers. In this interview, our Director, Dr Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden discusses a core focus of their research with them: AI and Holocaust memory. Dr Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden: We're really looking forward to hosting you here in the autumn semester. Mykola, we have of course worked closely together on a number of ventures over the past few years. Your and Maryna's research explores the significance of algorithm organisation of memory culture online. What first inspired you to recognise the significance of algorithms more broadly, and AI more specifically, in relation to Holocaust memory? Mykola Makhortykh: Like it often happens in the creative process, my inspiration for studying the significance of algorithms and AI for Holocaust memory originates in frustration. Back in the day, when I was doing my PhD on the platformisation of Second World War memory in Ukraine, I relied primarily on qualitative methods. However, at some point, it became obvious that I had more data than I could realistically process qualitatively. I [...]

By |2024-11-28T11:16:34+00:0011 September 2024|
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Listening in Latin America: Digital Holocaust Memory and Education in Brazil, Argentina and Ecuador

by Dr Kate Marrison Research fellow Dr Kate Marrison recently returned from Lima where she held a roundtable discussion with professionals working in the field of Holocaust education from Brazil, Argentina and Ecuador. This is what she found out. While there is a proliferation of scholarly interest in the digital development of Holocaust commemoration and education across Europe and the US, little attention has been paid to this work in Latin America. Last month the Memory Studies Association annual conference took place in Lima, so we took the opportunity to bring together colleagues to discuss their work within Holocaust organisations in Argentina, Brazil, and Ecuador. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Perú. To kick off, I asked contributors what digital interventions they had brought to their organisations and what are the challenges and opportunities they bring. Participants discussed some fascinating examples of their practice. They included a virtual tour of Museo del Holocausto de Buenos Aires and the first survivor interactive biography to be recorded in Spanish as part of the Dimensions in Testimony (DiT) project in collaboration with The Latin American Network for Education on the Shoah. Examples from Brazil included open-access online educational materials created by Museu [...]

By |2024-11-28T11:17:01+00:0022 August 2024|
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Centralising the Human in Digital Humanities Methods

It has always been a challenge for researchers to capture 'collective memory'. As Holocaust memory becomes more digital, this aim becomes even harder. Here, our Lab Director, Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden, introduces the approach we've adopted in designing a methodology to record content for our groundbreaking 'living database-archive'.

By |2024-11-28T11:17:08+00:0016 August 2024|
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Contact

Landecker Digital Memory Lab
University of Sussex
Falmer Campus
Brighton and Hove
East Sussex
BN1 9RH
LandeckerDigitalMemoryLab@sussex.ac.uk

Contact

Landecker Digital Memory Lab
University of Sussex
Falmer Campus
Brighton and Hove
East Sussex
BN1 9RH
LandeckerDigitalMemoryLab@sussex.ac.uk

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