The internet as a tool for communicating life stories a new challenge for memory institutions

Abstract

This paper arguesthat life stories and other personal biographical accounts should be considered as significant manifestations of the intangible cultural heritage. It addresses the consequences for ‘memory institutions’, i.e. museums, libraries, archives and similar bodies, in relation to the protection and safeguarding of this heritage. First, the main challenges that these institutions have to face in order to protect this special kind of heritage are considered. Second, there is consideration of the main changes caused by the introduction of new information communication technologies (ICTs) into the cultural heritage world, and specifically, the effect of ICT developments on the institutions responsible for autobiographical memoirs are examined. Laura Solanilla Lecturer, Open University of Catalonia, Spain 104 Internet : a Tool for Communicating Life Stories Life Stories as Intangible Cultural Heritage Heritage has traditionally been regarded primarily as something passed down from our cultural ancestors, which present society has an obligation to conserve and then transmit on to future generations. This idea, deeply entrenched not just in people’s imaginations, but also in much national legislation and regulations and in international agreements, has been dominated by the material and objective dimensions of culture, in which the heritage item was very often regarded as the visualisation of the power and life of the dominant cultural, political and economic classes. With the emergence, and now the consolidation, of the concept of an important intangible cultural heritage to be considered and supported alongside the physical or tangible heritage, the concept of cultural identity has become systematically linked to that of this dynamic and living heritage. Therefore, we need to understand that the process of identifying heritage is a way of adding value to a series of items, transforming them into symbols of their community. We must also understand cultural identity as the result of a collective historic experience in all fields (economic, political, social and cultural) which generates a set of shared values and attitudes. Therefore, this wider