Digital interactivity in public memory institutions: the uses of new technologies in Holocaust museums

Abstract

Historical events and social memories are increasingly articulated and accessed through the means of interactive digital technologies. Particularly in the context of history museums, interactive digital media kiosks and web-sites are used to enhance and in some cases constitute a key way in which the past is conveyed to the public. Yet in what ways are new technologies in such contexts constructing a different relationship to the past and how are visitors themselves using these technologies? This article uses empirical research from the Museum of Tolerance in the US to critically situate and theorize the uses of new technologies in relation to socially inherited memories of the Holocaust.