The formation of cultural heritage is inherently a community-forming activity, wherein the involved communities define what is important to them and shape their identities accordingly. Online communities interact with cultural heritage in ways that may differ from interactions with traditional physical archives, and the multiplicity of meaning-making contexts in digital archives presents both opportunities and challenges. This workshop addresses cultural heritage as a community and examines online communities related to cultural heritage. We will explore the types of digital memory communities that exist and how they interact with digital cultural heritage. How does online interaction shape knowledge and group identities related to the past? How can we balance academic and popular uses of digital cultural heritage to enhance user experience? We will also discuss innovative methods to improve user engagement, such as chatting with an archivist or using interactive bots, to provide access to information beyond what is represented online. 

Location: online 

Date: Friday November 21, 2025 

Schedule (in East European time zone) 

14:00 – 14:15 Welcome and Introduction, Hannu Salmi, University of Turku 

14:15 – 15:00 Digital Heritage Communities, Speaker: Anna Sivula, Professor, University of Turku  

15:00 – 15:15 Break 

15:15 – 16:00 Memory practices in and beyond retrospective Facebook groups. Speaker: Robin Ekelund, Senior lecturer, Malmö University 

16:00 – 16:15 Break 

16:15 – 17:00 Future of Digital Cultural Heritage Communities, panel discussion. Panelists: Anna Sivula and  Robin Ekelund, discussant Mila Oiva, University of Turku.

Registration: https://link.webropolsurveys.com/EP/E1553817AD746CE0

For more information, see the news article: Online Workshop Series Organised by Turku University: New Trends in Digital Culture Studies.