This paper addresses the differing impacts of interactive online genres on the construction of historical memories. It explores various communication genres of the internet (social media, blogs such as LiveJournal, comments on YouTube or news portals), especially the form of communication they require, the way this form of communication interferes with memory culture and how it influences various representations. The main focus is on the trifecta of technology, interactive genre and memory. I argue that generic aspects, as outlined by Mikhail Bakhtin and further developed in a pragmatist key by Carolyn Miller and others, can contribute considerable insight to Digital Memory Studies. Only an integrated approach to genre, which encompasses technical conditions as well as rhetorical rules and cultural particularities, can help us understand how memory emerges and changes online.
Language of contribution: English