SciLux podcast – Valérie Schafer on Online Virality

10 December 2024

Digital Heritage

Discover the fascinating history of the Internet and learn about the impact of memes and viral phenomena with Prof. Valérie Schafer to discover how digital culture has evolved and continues to shape our online interactions.

Valérie Schafer is Professor in Contemporary European History at the C²DH (Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History) at the University of Luxembourg. She specialises in the history of computing, telecommunications and data networks. Her main research interests are the history of the Internet and the Web, the history of European digital cultures and infrastructures, and born-digital heritage (especially Web archives).

Listen to Prof. Valérie Schafer to better understand th history of the Internet and learn about the impact of memes and viral phenomena.

Listen to the new SciLux episode

An History of Online Virality

The HIVI project (standing for “A history of online virality”) aims to reveal, historicise and communicate about this intangible experience and the heritage of viral content. HIVI develops a historical framework that informs the analytics of virality and rumours and improves our understanding of current phenomena, some of which are strongly related to past digital cultures. Building on the legacy of past Web cultures as a means of shedding light on current trends, it explores the history of virality by combining a general narrative with case studies dedicated to precise viral phenomena and their dissemination through time and space, in order to better contextualise them. Drawing on a broad corpus of born-digital heritage, which is maintained online and in Web archiving institutions, HIVI also provides an opportunity to test and deepen digital methods and to refine digital hermeneutics.

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Research Luxembourg and SciLux have teamed up to launch a new series of podcasts showcasing science in Luxembourg and beyond.

With a new episode every 2 weeks published, ‘SciLux powered by Research Luxembourg’ will showcase research activities and scientific cooperation in Luxembourg.

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