Mobile Technology, Oral History and the 9/11 Memorial: A Study of Digitally Augmented Remembrance

摘要

For the individual, the memorial-visiting experience is a complex social performance rife with negotiations of belonging, enactment of manners, and opportunity for personal, affective experience. In the social setting of the memorial, attendees are deferential to the site (e.g., quiet, contemplative) and witness those who are not (e.g., treating the memorial as another tourist destination), which acts to codify those who belong and highlight those who are guests. The memorial experience provokes a range of emotions, from the feeling of frustration and diminish-ment of personal movement (through obtrusive security screenings), to feelings of deep sadness while guests view the voids, which are brought "closer to home" through the use of a mobile app that makes possible an increased "intimacy." However, technical problems, such as crashing apps, will annoy and detract from the experience.