Month: September 2025

After exploring media loss in a 19th century Europe last week, I mentioned I wanted to take that concept and look at how it applies to more recent and digitized media. Lindsay Freeman’s “Digitally Disappeared: The Case For the Preservation of Atrocity Evidence in the Age of Digital Epherimerality” discusses the repercussions of important events digitally disappearing. Freeman (2022) argues that digital disappearance became a human rights issue after social media platforms started being used as an archive for historical evidence, war crimes, and mass atrocities.

Something I never thought about before was the importance of some of the “harmful” content that gets taken down on social media platforms. Freeman (2022) makes the point that when content that is violent, pornographic, or harmful for any other reason gets deleted, important evidence that could have been useful gets destroyed. The people who make these decisions are the ones that have the most power, and their motivation behind what gets taken down is uncertain and hazy. The selective deletion continues to give them more power and allows them to tell real stories the way they choose to, while others are silenced.

Like I said and planned last week, this article is a perfect gateway for me to transition from giving historical context to exploring the current issues we are dealing with regarding digital preservation and online deletion. Adding the political aspect to my project has completely taken it to a whole other level and I am excited about the fact that it feels more organized and I have decided on the sections that I will be covering.

I haven’t done much this week as I have been sick, but I added more things to my pre production outline and made it into a slideshow on Canva simply for aesthetic reasons. I also found a lot of inspiration regarding the type shots I want to have and watched videos about filming, and how to film the shots I want specifically. I found some locations I am looking into renting and I will be shooting some scenes that will hopefully make it to the final cut of the project tomorrow or Wednesday. I want to apply for the Philadelphia Student Media Maker grant, so I am trying to figure out my budget for my project and thinking about some of the specifics such as duration so I can fill out my application. I started a budget proposal using a template but I am struggling with what to include, but it’s getting there. I’m hoping to do more for this project this week.

Freeman, L. (2022). Digitally Disappeared: The Struggle to Preserve Social Media Evidence of Mass Atrocities. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs 23(1), 105-113. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/gia.2022.0017.

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This week, I wanted to focus on historical and political aspects of my topic. Lost media is not just about deleted files and error pages, but rather a lens to what is valued in society. I found a few amazing sources about intentional lost media and I feel very good about how they connect to my project.

Rakesh Sengupta’s “Towards a Decolonial Media Archeology: The Absent Archive of Screenwriting History and the Obsolete Munshi” explains that the archival absence of film is a colonial issue and the lack of proper documentation of non-western epistemologies exhibits that dominant industries decide what is worth preserving and what isn’t. Consequently, Western cinema is privileged and prioritized while South Asian film industries are marginalized. He uses the phrase “obsolete munshi” to describe the scriptwriters whose art was erased or blocked from history despite having important and valuable contributions to the film industry. He suggests that we combine decolonial thinking and media archeology to search for the gaps in history that got ignored and erased and understand why they aren’t preserved. His work shows that archival absence is not accidental and has strong ties to colonialism, capitalism, and structural erasure.

If I take this very theory heavy article and apply it to more current and digital examples of lost media, I can show that media loss has serious effects on justice and human rights. When I first started this project, I was mostly thinking about things my generation remembers from our childhood that got accidentally or intentionally deleted, but doing the historical research made me realize that this topic is so much deeper than that. It has serious implications about what we get to see and remember. If people in power have the right to delete and filter through information that comes from marginalized communities, how can we study complex subjects people have opposing views on? If all we have is what is preserved, aren’t we continuing to empower the same people who silenced others’ voices in the first place? How does this differ from censorship? Don’t we and future generations have the right to study all of our cultural heritage? How can digital media loss be prevented? Should my project have a call-to-action? I intend to think about these questions and more in the coming weeks. This week, I plan on reading some sources that parallel Sengupta’s work but are about digital media loss and online spaces. I believe this will help me take history and apply it to current issues. I have already started finding some sources that will help me do that, but I haven’t had time to read them yet.

I’m planning on looking at missing websites, deleted tweets and posts on various social media, and other user generated content that gets deleted, but I am concerned that my topic might get too broad if I start including so many specific types of content. I am also wondering if it would be a good idea to split my subject into two sections: accidental and intentional loss. This way, I can talk about the political implications while thinking about intentional loss (or deletion) and touch on more logistical issues such as neglect and clutter and discuss better ways to organize and archive digital media. I spent the week thinking about these and making my outline more specific and clear. This is actually coming along nicely and I am happy about where I am!

Sengupta, R. (2020). Towards a Decolonial Media Archaeology: The Absent Archive of Screenwriting History and the Obsolete Munshi. Theory, Culture & Society, 38(1), 3-26. https://doi-org.libproxy.temple.edu/10.1177/0263276420930276

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Deadware (2021), is the perfect example of the atmosphere and mood that I’m going for with my documentary. Since my topic is about a concept that mostly exists in the digital space, I thought it would be appropriate for my editing style to reflect the digital world. This movie is similar to my genre, topic, and aesthetic. I will have a considerable amount of archival footage that I will be showing to my audience. Therefore, it is important to edit the overall project in a meaningful way that will keep everything concise and prevent the audience from getting bored. Similarly, the Modern Family episode title “Connection Lost” cleverly tells a story only by using FaceTime. I intend to really get into this editing style and incorporate some digital elements into my story to make the audience feel more immersed.

I am very interested in unconventional storytelling and I envision my project having a surreal vibe. I want to use interesting camera angles and play with space and sizes of everything I put in front of the camera, including myself. I want to visually show the enormity of the internet and help my audience feel the longing and nostalgia through the screen. There are plenty of ways to do this and it will require for me to understand perspective and familiarize myself with videography. I intend to do this through practice and LinkedIn Learning courses. Additionally, I want my editing to symbolize the media that is getting lost. I plan to do that by including glitches, static, poofs, and other creative effects and tools to elevate my project.

In addition to my aesthetic goals, there are a few practical skills I will need to ensure that my project isn’t just cool visuals with no substance. These skills include archival research, documentation, asking questions, and academic research. Seeing that my project will include a number of archives and database research, it is crucial that I am as organized and concise as I can be. Where it gets tricky is that I will be discussing material without being able to show it – because it is lost – so I will also need to include comments and forum posts from people who remember said material.

References

Levitan, S. (Director). (2015, February 25). Connection lost [TV episode]. C. Lloyd, S. Levitan, M. Ganz (Writers). Modern Family. ABC.

Rodriguez, I. (Director). (2021). Deadware. [Film]. No Sleep Films.

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When talking about lost media, it’s important to indicate what is being lost and whether it is worth keeping. It’s also essential to understand memory as a whole.

In the article, “A Cultural Memory of the Digital Age?” Haux, Dominicé, and Raspotnig discuss how cultural heritage exists in the digital realm and how the uniform standards can be set to improve and organize the way of preserving data. The fast evolution of digital technology contribute to cultural heritage while simultaneously making it difficult for the law to keep up. As Haux, et al. (2020) reference, the lines between music sampling and intellectual theft are still blurred. As the digital age becomes a bigger part of our culture, adjusting the current legal system is absolutely necessary. Similarly, changing what is considered cultural heritage and setting laws to properly preserve it has been an important conversation. In 2003, UNESCO adopted Charter on the Preservation of Digital Heritage. Haux, et al. (2020) argue that this charter is insufficient and fails to consider a number of things, including the ever changing and developing nature of data and the transience of certain formats. Lastly, they posit that a foundation needs to be built with clear distinctions on what should be protected. They ask how this can be done, who can make that decision, on what ground these laws can be put in place, and what can be a part of digital culture. “These questions not only concern museums, libraries or archives, but society as a whole,” Haux, et al. (2020) state.

This article, while it took me a few re-reads to fully grasp, helped me understand digital preservation a lot more. Since I will be talking about lost media, it will be helpful for me to look at what type of media needs to be preserved and what doesn’t. I also didn’t know about the 2003 UNESCO charter and I will be reading into it to further develop my project. Additionally, this article has many sources about memory and memory theory. Since that is the angle I want for my project, looking at those citations will also be useful in the long run.

I made some progress this week but not a lot. I made myself a pre-production outline to help me organize my thoughts and ideas as they have been slightly all over the place. I included things like core concepts, core emotions, who is my audience, who isn’t my audience, genre, visual and auditory aesthetic, research, objective, structure, editing, etc. I did this by looking at the Master Project Proposal & Paper Guidelines on the MA Canvas page. It is not complete by any means, there are a number of blanks and question marks. However, I feel good about where it’s going! I also attempted to make myself a full timeline from now to April (also using the MA Canvas page) but I have been struggling with that a little bit. Regardless, I feel fine about where I’m at and I’m excited to meet in person on Tuesday because I have some questions about how to go about parts of this project!

Haux, D. H., Maget Dominicé, A., & Raspotnig, J. A. (2021). A Cultural Memory of the Digital Age? International journal for the semiotics of law , 34(3), 769–782. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-020-09778-7

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