Work

Muddled Boundaries of Digital Shrines

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: Based on an online ethnography study of 274 YouTube videos posted during the Virginia Tech or the Newtown massacres, this article discusses how users resort to participatory media during such mediatized events to create a digital spontaneous shrine. The assemblage of this sanctuary on a website hosting billions of user-generated contents is made possible by means of folksonomy and website architecture, and a two-fold social dynamic based on participatory commitment and the institutionalization of a collective entity. Unlike “physical” spontaneous shrines erected in public spaces, these digital shrines connect the bereaved with provocative or outrageous contributions, notably tributes from school shooting fans using participatory media to commemorate the killer’s memory. This side effect, generated by the technical properties of the platform, compromises the tranquility of the memorial and muddles the boundaries and the contents of such sanctuaries.

Source: Popular Communication

DOI: 10.1080/15405702.2015.1019072

Authors: Nathalie Paton, Julien Figeac

Institutions: Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier, Laboratoire d'Études et de Recherches Appliquées en Sciences Sociales, Université de Toulouse, Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Solidarités Sociétés Territoires, Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès

Language: English

Topic: Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

Funder: Agence Nationale de la Recherche