Readings for Nov. 8

Here's the readings for discussion on Thursday, November 8th. Please make sure to have a close read of Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture chapter, and either Harriet Senie's article "Mourning in Protest: Spontaneous Memorials and the Sacralization of Public Space" or Kristin Haas' chapter from Carried to the Wall: American Memory and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (I'd like you to read both, but if you're crunched for time you could just skim both or do a close reading of one). While reading these, please think about how what Jenkins observes about participatory culture relates to the implementation of spontaneous shrines and digital memorial sites. Who gets to or has the right to regulate spontaneous shrine sites and digital memorials? Also, how do these rituals reshape or modify American identity?

Please also take a look at Kenneth E. Foote's chapter from Shadowed Ground: America's Landscapes of Violence and Tragedy where he defines four categories of physical memorials. I'm interested in how these categories reshape in digital spaces, and I'd like to have a discussion about that as well. Your goal for this reading is to get a clear understanding of his four categories from the reading.

To ground our discussion in a few memorials, please take a look at the following:

• The Hurricane Digital Memory Bank.
• J Dilla's Myspace page
• The Sonic Memorial Project (9/11, WTC)
• Katrinamemorials.com (updated with a call to "Impeach Bush!")
• Watch and read about funeral raids in World of Warcraft
• Virginia Tech Shooting Memorial in Second Life (If you don't have an account, you can watch a video here, or we can visit in class if you guys would like - I highly recommend the visit as the video is kinda dramatic).