Public history and Web history: singular and collective experiences, uses and memories

At the intersection of Digital History, History of the Digital, and Public History, this panel, organised and moderated by Valérie Schafer and consisting of four presentations, aims to explore the connections between public history and web history. It particularly delves into issues related to memories, legacies, as well as the intertwining of individual and collective experiences that shape the early days of the Web and contemporary practices. Drawing on the expertise of researchers in public history, web history, media studies and digital humanities, the panel seeks to foster interdisciplinary dialogue. It examines both the initial uses of the Web in public history and how the web can contribute to tackle contemporary issues, such as those related to the environment, by co-creating awareness and empowerment with the involved stakeholders.
The history of the web and its relationship with public history can therefore be approached from the perspective of the Web’s uses by public history or the Web’s contribution to engagement, and public history initiatives. A complementary aspect explored in this panel is the concept of the Web as public memory, as well as the blurred boundaries between public and private spaces in the early history of the web in the 1990s, and how this may impact current efforts in public history.
The panel begins with a presentation by Niels Brügger and Gabriele Balbi, titled “The Web in the public memory, the Web as a public memory”, which seeks to complicate the relationship between the World Wide Web and public memory. It focuses on two contrasting aspects: on the one hand, it addresses how the Web is remembered and depicted in media, as well as potential misunderstandings about the Web's nature and functions. On the other hand, the archived Web serves as a valuable tool for remembering and documenting events in public life, but the closedness of many national web archives may hinder its public use as a historical source.
Susan Aasman and Nathalie Fridzema then present a concrete case study titled “From personal home pages to cultural heritage”, based on web archives originally hosted by the Dutch provider XS4ALL. These webpages are now preserved at the National Library in the Netherlands and are listed in the UNESCO Memory of the World register, showcasing recent historical records created by ordinary users. The speakers explore the moral, ethical, philosophical, and technical challenges of doing public history with these types of very recent historical records produced by ordinary users.
Subsequently, Serge Noiret revisits the topic of “Proto-digital public history” and reflects on the evolution of producing digital objects online, such as exhibitions, archives, social media, and more, with a participatory approach.
Finally, Anat Ben-David discusses her project on the history of climate news images using web archives, focusing on the connections between web archives, current challenges, and public participation and empowerment.