Titel of the Module
Digital memory – cultural heritage, archive, and control
Level
Master Degree
Location
Royal School of Library and Information Science, Copenhagen
Term and Year
Autum, Year 2013
ECTS credits
7½ ECTS
Instructors:
Torsten Andreasen
Content
The world is going digital. Or maybe it already went? The explosive growth in social platforms and
“new media” as well as the libraries’ and museums’ ongoing digitalisation of cultural heritage
constitute a domain where memory objects of wildly different kind and origin are brought
together as data. Everywhere, we encounter new multimedial archives giving access to a hitherto
unkown amount of literature, music, film, tv, art, information, and communication:
 Libraries lend out literature and music.
 Spotify, HBO, and Netflix grant access to their respective treasures on market terms.
 Google Art Project and Flickr in each their way deliver enormous image archives for both
studying, sharing and remixing.
 Research infrastructures such as LARM and dissemination platforms as Bonanza and
danskkulturarv.dk gives acces to national audiovisual cultural heritage material.
 Wikipedia and other encyclopedias provide freely accessible information and social media
explore new horizons for the form and content of human communication.
The course explores the above phenomena from the perspective of
 the notions of cultural memory and cultural heritage
 the archive as organizing authority and productive instance
 the analog as well as the digital memory object
 new media
 digital materiality and mediality
Objective
Having completed the module, the student must:
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Knowledge
 Notions of cultural heritage
 Notions of digital inscriptions
 Cultural notions of the archive
 Theories of cybernetics and critiques thereof
Skills
 To reflect on the influences of digitalisation on cultural heritage
 To reflect on digital inscription of information
 To reflect on the influences of new media on cultural heritage
Competences
 Analyse contemporary cultural heritage platforms via relevant cultural theory
 Analyse common media platforms such as Spotify and Netflix
 Analyse social media from the point of view of interaction with memory objects
Forms of tuition
The course will consist of classroom lectures and group discussion.
Literature
Ca. 750 pages
Sample literature
Chun, W. H. K. (2008). The Enduring Ephemeral, or the Future Is a Memory. Critical Inquiry, 35(1),
148–171. doi:10.1086/595632
Ernst, W. (2013). Digital Memory and the Archive. (J. Parikka, Ed.). University of Minnesota Press.
Kirschenbaum, M. G. (2008). Mechanisms, new media and the forensic imagination. Cambridge,
Mass: MIT Press.
Manovich, L. (2001). The language of new media. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
Language
English
Examination
All elective modules are assessed according to the 7-step grading scale with internal co-examiner
The examination form is: Oral presentation of a case with material, subject chosen by the student
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Re-exam
Same as ordinary examination
Marking criteria
Karakteren gives i henhold til gradsopfyldelsen af målbeskrivelsen, som beskrevet i
karakterskalabekendtgørelsen.
The module is assessed according to the 7-point grading scale.
The mark 12 is given to:
For an excellent performance displaying a high level of command of all aspects of the relevant
material, with no or only a few minor weaknesses
 Clear understanding and communication of the main theoretical points of the read texts
 The ability to clearly demonstrate chosen theoretical approaches with regard to a specific
object of study
 The ability to reflect on the wider perspectives of the performed analysis with regard to the
theme of the course
The mark 7 is given to:
For a good performance displaying good command of the relevant material but also some
weaknesses
 An overall understanding and adequate communication of the main theoretical points of
the read texts
 The ability to engage in a theoretical approach with regard to a specific object of study
 The ability to formulate the perspectives of the performed analysis with regard to the
theme of the course
The mark 02:
For a performance meeting only the minimum requirements for acceptance
 A poor understanding and incoherent presentation of the main theoretical points of the
read texts
 The inability to engange in a theoretical approach with regard to a specific object of study
 The inability to place the performed analysis within the horizon of the theme of the course
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