Paper short abstract:

How to implement participatory memory practices is an ongoing debate in the heritage sector. The H2020 ITN POEM is addressing this by training a cohort of professionals through a novel approach and set of methodologies to understand the changing memory modalities in digital media ecologies.

Paper long abstract:

Digital media ecologies have the potential to break traditional hierarchies of knowledge production and ownership. They can achieve this by providing novel opportunities for new and more diverse communities to engage in memory making with both institutional actors and with each other. However, harnessing this potential to bring a positive change and potential benefits for previously marginalised and underrepresented communities, and the society as a whole, requires a systematic consideration and understanding of how traditional and novel memory modalities operate in the digital media sphere. The H2020 Marie Curie ITN on Participatory Memory Practices (POEM) is making a major contribution in this area by training a cohort of heritage, media, and research professionals through the development of a structured approach and set of methodologies for explicating and systematising understanding of the changing regimes of memory modalities in digital media ecologies. This paper discusses the process of developing the POEM approach, methodological toolbox and transdisciplinary Community of Practice. These are employed for an in-depth and systematic examination of how memory making is being reshaped as a result of the changing socio-technical, organisational, legal, economic, and ethical frameworks for the use of cultural materials in a digitally mediated world. POEM is addressing an urgent need for training experts in the cultural heritage sector who understand these new modalities, changing frameworks and contexts and can harness them to empower people and develop socially inclusive memory practices.