Research On The Transformation Of Archival Memory Reproduction In New Media Age

Archives and memory are inherently linked and mutually constitutive."Social Memory" has now become an important area of academic concern.The reproduction of social memory is a universal social phenomenon,while archival memory is an important and characteristic field.The archival memory reproduction is a new topic in the field of archives science in recent years,which aims to explore the internal mechanism of archival memory reproduction and its participating in social reproduction.This study introduces a new perspective of archival memory reproduction,and absorbs theoretical nutrition of archives science,information science,sociology,history,communication science,philosophy and so on.It adopts several theories of archival memory,social reproduction,social memory,media communication,etc.Starting from the essential relation of archives,mankind and society,the paper explains the content,operation process and function mechanism of archival memory reproduction,and analyzes its theoretical,historical and practical logic.Taking the new media age as background and context of analysis,it discusses the transformation and promotion mechanism of archival memory reproduction.This paper adopts the new concept of "archival memory reproduction" to cover various aspects of archival practices,further refines its concept,elements,structure,nature,function,operation mechanism,and so on.Thus it initially constructs the theoretical framework of archival memory reproduction.Archival memory is a kind of "engraved" social memory from the angle of intermediary.Archival memory reproduction is the unity of behavior,process and result,which integrates text form,content and meaning reproduction together.It realizes the accumulation,updating,exhibition,dissemination and sharing of archival memory through the cyclic process of generation,processing to consumption.As a typical memory practice,archival memory reproduction plays an important role in the reproduction of whole social memory and human society by three social functions of memory inheritance,social governance and cultural identity.Inspired by the model of document continuum theory,this paper constructs a Taiji map model of the operation mechanism of archival memory reproduction involved in socialmemory reproduction,which includes previously neglected media elements.It emphasizes the process and cyclical characteristics from the two courses of the socialization of archival memory and the archiving of social memory.Basing on investigation of practice of archival memory reproduction,this paper analyzes its historical evolution,influencing factors and social situation changes in the new media age.The archival memory reproduction exists in every time and space of human social activities,and from ancient times to present the evolution follows the path from closed,scattered,single to open,systematic and pluralistic.There are many influencing factors inside and outside of the archival memory system,including politics,economy,culture,media technology and other external factors,as well as internal factors such as the subject of reproduction,memory system,resources,and so on.Stepping into the new media age of rapid change,the new media represented by Internet has been deeply embedded in the social structure.Social transformation,state governance,cultural consumption,media integration and other changes in social situations jointly promote the transformation of archival memory reproduction.Focusing on links of reproduction process,this paper deeply explains the transformation of production,processing and consumption of archival memory.The environment of production turns from traditional,single,unidirectional to electronic environment,competitive memory field and interactive context;the producers change from official to social,from the elite to the public;the object changes from traditional memory to digital one,the scope extends to archival memory of new media and individuals.The purpose of archival memory processing tends to meaning reproduction,changes from historical research to pursuing shared memory;processing form shifts to visualization,represented by space memory and image memory;processing modes develop to digital,narrative,creative,integrated ones.The consumers of archival memory transform from traditional users to digital consumers;the objects of consumption change from content to emotion,identity,value and other meanings,and the latter becomes main component part of capitalized consumption of archival memory;consumption modes turn to digital,personalized,branding,leisurely,and consumption channels tend to online access.This study summarizes the general features of the transformation of archival memory reproduction in the new media age,and then explores its influence on theconstruction of social memory and corresponding promotion mechanisms.Overall,the archival memory reproduction changes from unidirectional,productive,solidification,singularity,regional to diversified,consumption,liquidity,integration,globalization.Such transformation has dual impacts on the construction of social memory,which is mainly manifested in the facts that digital memory moves towards intelligence,media memory fusion is accelerating,shared memory leads to reflection,competition of social memories intensifies,and forgetting is highlighted.In order to upgrade the transformation level of archival memory reproduction,the archives department can implement six promoting mechanisms from dimensions of subject,object,intermediary and relationship,including mechanisms of value guidance,cooperative participation,consumer cultivation,multidimensional narrative,media integration and ethical constraints.The study expresses a deep concern of practice.Media integration is in the ascendant,which will have a continuing impact on the transformation of archival memory reproduction.Media acts not only as memory intermediary,but also as key function mechanism of archival memory reproduction.Regarded as a kind of social system,archives and archival work are incorporated into archival memory reproduction.This paper responds to the hot issues of archival activities in the new media age by theoretical summary and prediction,which would be helpful to enrich archival memory theory and put forward the transformation of archival work in the new media age.