12. Memory in the Digital Age

Human memory – individual and collective – is one of the key research topics in the humanities and the social and natural sciences. Modern science is confronted with a phenomenon that has many layers as well as a sort of secrecy. Research on memory over the entire range of ways of its understanding and investigating is very important to society. Interdisciplinary methods can be used to study it and the institutes of the Academy of Sciences, thanks to their research potential, constitute a unique research center. The humanities and social sciences see memory primarily as something that creates culture, which is reflected in the complex and often traumatic history of the twentieth century and its interpretation.

Memory in and of itself is selective and subjective. Combined with the accelerated dynamics of progress, changes in the society and the family, as well as new technological possibilities, these aspects of human memory stand out and naturally or purposefully newly form (and deform) the cultural memory, the culture of remembering or purposeful “forgetting.” We lack an interdisciplinary platform to record and analyze memory processes, which would devote itself to research individual and collective memory in a complex way and would thus provide a space for the reflection of the general questions of how it works, how it’s formed and how it’s then transferred back into the thoughts of individuals and the society. Researching memory in its socio-cultural, psychological or cognitive forms is only one side of this coin. Just as important are the questions and problems connected to the recording and accessibility of memory and the cultural memory of the society. The construction of relevant research infrastructure is part of this goal. The research outputs will be monographs, papers in journals, academic conferences, databases, web interfaces, expert methodology and reviews. They can be used in: a) research and development; b) education (in schools, museums and libraries); c) media (radio, television, film, educational publishing houses) and cultural industry (tourism, etc.); d) state administration (counseling and other collaboration with the departments of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Culture).

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