Much of the debate on cultural memory has been shaped by the view, commonly held if not universal, that remembering and commemorating is usually a virtue and that forgetting is necessarily a failing. But this assumption is not self-evidently true. This article seeks, therefore, to disentangle the different types of acts that cluster together under the single term `to forget'. I suggest that we can distinguish at least seven types: repressive erasure; prescriptive forgetting; forgetting that is constitutive in the formation of a new identity; structural amnesia; forgetting as annulment; forgetting as planned obsolescence; forgetting as humiliated silence.

Memory activists have recently received more scholarly and public attention, but the concept lacks conceptual clarity. In this article, we articulate an analytical framework for studying memory activists, proposing a relatively narrow definition: “Memory activists” strategically commemorate the past to challenge (or protect) dominant views on the past and the institutions that represent them. Their goal is mnemonic change or to resist change. We locate scholarship on memory activists at the intersection of memory studies and social movement studies. We introduce a typology for comparative analysis of memory activism according to activist roles, temporality, and modes of interaction with other actors in memory politics, and illustrate this with a diverse set of empirical examples. We contend that the analytical utility of the concept of the “memory activist” is premised on its value-neutrality, and in particular, its application to both pro and anti-democratic cases of activism.

This article demonstrates the need always to consider change against continuity and continuity against change in the analysis of mnemonic technologies. It does so by exploring what has happened in the move from analogue to digital photography, looking, in particular, at how this has affected the meanings of personal photographs and the practices of remembering associated with them. In contrast with technologically determinist perspectives which have been, however latently, manifest in writing on new media, the value of exploring vernacular photography as a specifically mnemonic practice is that it turns our attention to the ways in which photographic practices are bound up with longer term social uses and cultural values. Our analysis focuses on changes in four key categories of photographic practice that relate to the analogue/digital shift: photo-taking, photo-storing, photo-viewing, photo-sharing – all of which have consequences for the uses of photography as a mnemonic resource. They have all been altered in varying degrees by the advent of digital technologies, but with people continually making comparative evaluations of old and new, drawing on the former as a key aspect of learning how to use the latter.

Despite their ephemeral constantly changing nature, social media constitute an archive of public discourse. In this study, we examine when, how, and why journalists practice proactive ephemerality, deleting their tweets either manually or automatically to consider the viability of social media as a public record. Based on interviews conducted with journalists in New York City, we find many journalists delete their tweets, and that software-aided mass deletion is common, damaging Twitter’s standing as an archive. Through deletion, journalists manipulate temporality, exposing the public to a brief tweeting window to reduce risks and regain control in a precarious labor market and a harassment-ridden public sphere in which employers leave them largely unprotected. When deleting tweets mechanically, journalists emulate platform logic by depending—as commercial platforms often do—on automatic procedures rather than on human expertise. This constitutes a surrender of the very qualities that make human judgment so valuable.

This article investigates cultures of digital memory and forgetting in the European Union. The article first gives some background to key debates in media memory studies, before going on to analyse the shaping of European Commission and European Union initiatives in relation to Google’s activities from the period 2004–present. The focus of inquiry for the discussion of memory is the Google Books project and Europeana, a database of digitized cultural collections drawn from European museums, libraries and archives. Attention is then given to questions of forgetting by exploring the tension between Google’s search and indexing mechanisms and the right to be forgotten. The article ends by reflecting on the scale of the shift in contemporary cultures of memory and forgetting, and considers how far European regulation enables possible interventions in this domain.

Forgetting is a surprising and unintended consequence of remembering. Research on retrieval-induced forgetting has shown that retrieval of one item in memory can cause the forgetting of other items in memory. This forgetting is argued to be the consequence of an inhibitory process that underlies the ability to overcome interference during retrieval. The research reviewed here suggests that individuals who exhibit more retrieval-induced forgetting are more capable of overcoming interference in other contexts as well (e.g., creative problem solving). Ironically, it appears that thinking and remembering rely at least in part on a process that underlies forgetting.

This article situates the emergence of the field of memory studies in relation to several areas of study: cultural studies, media studies, communication and visual culture. It considers key concepts of those fields — memory practices, technologies of memory, mediation and consumerism — in relation to memory studies. Finally, it reflects on some cautionary aspects of memory studies as it moves forward as a field of study.

This essay traces a critical genealogy of counter-memory – spanning critical theory, film and contemporary art – bound to what Rosi Braidotti terms nomadic subjectivity. Engaging with the work of feminist and postcolonial theorists and artists, this essay charts the import of nomadic subjectivity as a method for staying with the many times and histories of global contemporaneity. It aims to move beyond thinking of counter-memory as simply a means to maintain or register erased and/or contested histories, or as a dialectical mnemonic system. It charts an alternative concept of counter-memory, one that is post-dialectical, not bound to the formulas of either/or, us/them or self/other, but which is instead committed to the endless accumulation and proximities of things – the and–and.

In the beginning of the twenty-first century, the personal diary made a transition from its traditional form to the online space. This change of medium transformed the policies of subjectivity which previously structured personal journaling. One of the most profound transformations was the modified relationship of individuals with their past. Former feelings and experiences that did not fit newly constructed biographical storylines used to be discarded, rejected and, ultimately, forgotten. Personal diaries containing the testimonies of undesired past attitudes were often destroyed, but online journals allowed their authors to revisit and remould their past to bring it into alignment with their changing life story. This article presents a case study of a blogger’s practice of managing her LiveJournal archive containing biographical texts created over almost two decades. It illustrates how new life-writing technology is employed by bloggers to secure continuity of their autobiographical narrative.

Past, present and emerging technologies of memory are important concerns for memory studies. What is remembered individually and collectively depends in part on technologies of memory and socio-technical practices, which are changing radically. We identify specific concerns about developments in digital memory capture, storage and retrieval. Decisions are being made now that may have far-reaching consequences. Systems are being designed based on models and metaphors in which human memory works much like the computer. We bring to this discussion a critical perspective from science and technology studies (STS) and a grounding in human—computer interaction (HCI) and computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW). We argue that, while these developments are significant for memory studies research, even more important is the need for memory studies to remind and inspire designers of what is possible and useful, and help expand the understanding of human memory on which these systems are based.

In his Memory Studies article `Seven Types of Forgetting', Connerton argues that forgetting on a cultural level is not a unitary phenomenon and that at least seven distinct types can be distinguished. In this commentary, we explore the potential utility of an alternative conceptualization from a psychology perspective. More specifically, we consider how a theoretical framework on individual autobiographical memory may be employed as a metaphor for exploring Connerton's ideas about the forgetting of cultural groups. This metaphor concentrates on commonalities rather than differences between the types of forgetting proposed.

Disappeared websites are the missing pages of web history. We examine over 140 memory narratives of disappeared websites in China, in which 176 disappeared websites are remembered. We find that memories of disappeared websites rarely treat websites as dead objects, machines, or even as media, but more often as people whose death is mourned and memories cherished. They not only narrate the biographies of the websites but also the autobiographies of the story-tellers. The main biographical plot in these narratives of disappeared websites is a lovely life that was tragically cut short. Disappeared websites are most remembered for the passion, community, and sense of youthful idealism which they had inspired. Remembrances of disappeared websites are both retrospective and prospective. They resuscitate a lost golden age while expressing voices of protest at Internet censorship. They both highlight and repair a web history marked by disruption and disappearance.