Virtual Archipelagos: Internet and memory records in the liquid society

Abstract

The filming with mobile phones of mass student demonstrations in 2011 and of the earthquake-tsunami that struck Chile on the 27th of February 2007, followed by the release on internet of these images and information—especially the videos posted on YouTube—allows us a unique opportunity to think upon the incorporation of the TICs into the process of recording memories. In this case, the reference to a “sailor” navigating the cyberspace aligns itself with respect to the semantic fields offered by the metaphor of a “liquid society”. In this context, we are addressing the use of a digital heritage —the virtual community and universal sharing of images—as a catalogue of both memories and pieces of history: isolated messages, composed by both individuals and the collective that, together, form an archipelago of cultures.