Exploring the Grassroots Understanding and Practices of Collective Memory Co-Contribution in a University Community

TL;DR

This study investigates how university community members co-create collective memory through participatory practices using mobile systems, revealing insights for designing community-driven memory platforms.

Contribution

It offers a novel perspective on member-level co-contribution practices and provides design considerations for locative narrative experiences in community platforms.

Findings

Identified a core debate on documenting history versus retrospective reflection.

Observed diverse conceptualizations of collective memory among participants.

Provided design insights for locative narrative experiences in community UGC platforms.

Abstract

Collective memory -- community members' interconnected memories and impressions of the group -- is essential to the community's culture and identity. Its development requires members' continuous participatory contribution and sensemaking. However, existing works mainly adopt a holistic sociological perspective to analyze well-developed collective memory, less focusing on member-level conceptualization of this possession or what the co-contribution practices can be. Therefore, this work alternatively adopts the latter perspective and probes such interpretative and interactional patterns with two mobile systems. With one being a locative narrative and exploration system condensed from existing literature's design frameworks, and the other being a conventional online forum representing current practices, they served as the anchors of observation for our two-week, mixed-methods field study (n=38) on a university campus. A core debate we have identified was to retrospectively contemplate or document the presence as a history for the future. This also subsequently impacted the narrative focuses, expectations of collective memory constituents, and the ways participants seek inspiration from the group. We further extracted design considerations that could better embrace the diverse conceptualizations of collective memory and bond different community members together. Lastly, revisiting and reflecting on our design, we provided extra insights on designing devoted locative narrative experiences for community-driven UGC platforms.