Platformizing the Past: The Social Media Logic of Archival Digitization

Heritage institutions increasingly incorporate social media logic into their efforts to digitize archival sources. This study is based on an ethnographic exploration of the National Library of Israel’s (NLI) digitization endeavors, with the aim of understanding how the transition from analog to digital materials aligns with the principles of platformization. By conducting observations, examining reports, and interviewing NLI professionals, we shed light on the pervasive influence of social media logic within public sector institutions, such as the National Library. We argue that the digitization process of archival documents is a form of platformization, and its impact is evident even before the content is disseminated, exposed, and uploaded to social media platforms. Furthermore, our analysis underscores how social media logic is a guiding force behind the NLI’s digitization strategy, encompassing the selection of materials and the construction of a digital archive for future generations.

The Platformization of the National Archive

Over the past decade, scholarly research has extensively explored the profound impact of platforms on various aspects of social life. Studies examined platformization in fashion, gaming, and news industries (Duffy et al., 2019; Nieborg & Poell, 2018). Research in information studies engaged with the influence of platforms in archives and digital preservation (Acker & Flamm, 2021; Kriesberg & Acker, 2022), as well as how mass digitization has influenced the ways in which digital collections are now accessed (Thylstrup, 2019) and perceived by archivists (Acker & Brubaker, 2014; Lossin, 2017). In this article, we draw upon this scholarship to analyze digitization processes at the National Library of Israel, examining how Library professionals’ imagination of the platform they were constructing (van Es & Poell, 2020), and how the logic of social media—namely, programmability, popularity, connectivity, and datafication (van Dijck & Poell, 2013)—intertwine in the actual work of digitization.

Theoretical Framework

In his innovative work, Gillespie (2010) illustrated the usefulness of the term “platform,” which encapsulates computational, political, figurative, and architectural meanings and, at the same time, allows to gloss over the platforms’ role as cultural intermediaries. While Gillespie’s focus revolved around discursive aspects of this concept, Helmond (2015) examines platformization from a material-technical lens, proposing to study “the work that platforms do” (Helmond, 2015, p. 2). From this perspective, research should focus on platforms’ actual endeavors to make external web data platform-ready, that is, on the ways in which platforms pre-format the data that pass through their infrastructure according to their business model and technical requirements.

This study bridges these two approaches, shedding light on how platform discursive work impacts work practices in public information institutions, exemplified by the National Library of Israel (NLI). Our investigation into the digitization of archives at the NLI unveils how individuals responsible for these processes adopt social media logic and employ platform rhetoric to justify their actions. Moreover, we explore the profound ways in which this logic shapes the digitization strategies of the NLI. This encompasses considerations regarding the intended audience, the prioritization of archival sources, and the design of an interface for facilitating access to select archival materials. Consequently, we argue that the digitization of archival materials is not merely a technical endeavor; rather, it is deeply influenced by and rationalized as a means of the idea of platformizing the digital national archive.

The platformization of cultural production has been a subject of significant interest among scholars from various fields, including business, software studies, and political economy. Within this effort, Nieborg and Poell (2018) have developed a comprehensive framework designed to scrutinize the implications of cultural production’s increasing reliance on platforms. Their findings have raised concerns about potential compromises in the autonomy and economic sustainability of specific cultural production forms. Their framework, illustrated through examples from the news and gaming sectors, urges researchers to methodically explore how various cultural industries are undergoing a process of platformization, emphasizing shifts in market structures, governance frameworks, and infrastructures.

Building on this foundation, Duffy et al. (2019) have defined “platform practices” as the multifaceted strategies, routines, experiences, and expressions that shape cultural production within the realm of platforms. While platform practices have been associated with news organizations, fashion bloggers, gaming, and the music industry, the current analysis explores the permeation of such platform practices within the public sector, as evident in the ethnographic analysis of the NLI’s digitization strategy. Since we are particularly interested in the processes of becoming, the notion of “platform imaginaries” (van Es & Poell, 2020) allows us to shed light on how social actors structure their activities concerning various platform elements, including algorithms, interfaces, data infrastructures, and user practices. In the context of archival digitization, we utilize this concept to investigate how platform imaginaries influence the conversion of analog sources into digital entities, actively contributing to the overarching platformization process. Combining imagination and practices, our research focuses on the foundational step of archival digitization, which occurs even before content finds its place on social media platforms. We aim to comprehend the ways in which platform imaginaries and social media logic guide the NLI’s professionals and their digitization strategy, from the selection of archival materials to the construction of a digital archive. In doing so, we explore how contemporary ideas and structures shape the contours of future national memory.

To guide our investigation, we draw upon the concept of “social media logic,” defined by van Dijck and Poell (2013), which encompasses norms, strategies, mechanisms, and economies underpinning interactions between social media platforms, users, and social institutions. We find it a parsimonious and insightful heuristic despite the significant evolution in the understanding of social media platforms since their inception. Since these platforms are now recognized as far more complex entities than previously thought, however, we integrate this foundational heuristic with the concept of “platformatization” (Plantin et al., 2018), which refers to the process whereby public infrastructures adopt certain platform features, as we observe at the NLI. Finally and significantly, the notions of platform imaginaries (van Es & Poell, 2020) and platform practices (Duffy et al., 2019) allow us to elucidate the visions and expectations that professionals—librarians and curators—hold regarding the platform that they are inadvertently designing. By combining these frameworks while acknowledging their distinctness, we aim to provide a more nuanced and updated analysis of the current landscape of social media and digital platforms within public information institutions.

Social media logic is increasingly noted in esteemed public heritage and memory institutions, which were historically treated as public goods supported by universities, governments, and philanthropic organizations. These institutions have traditionally operated without apparent consideration of their economic value, and their functioning has not depended on their popularity among users (Hedstrom & King, 2003). However, the emergence of digital technologies has disrupted the traditional roles, definitions, and distinctions associated with these institutions (Rasmussen, 2019).

Departing from previous research on the use of social media platforms in heritage institutions, we seek to examine the role of platformization within the digitization process and its potential to influence the trajectory of national memory. Specifically, in contrast to previous studies that have focused on how librarians, archivists, and curators can employ social media for user engagement and digital outreach (Heyliger et al., 2013; Rogers, 2009; Russo et al., 2008; Xie & Stevenson, 2014), our research is designed to understand how the digitization process itself is becoming an integral part of the platformization of national memory. This shift in focus allows us to critically explore the transformative implications of these digital processes on the future of heritage institutions and the preservation of cultural memory.

Our study seeks to expand upon existing research in critical archival studies, particularly focusing on platformization. Prior studies have shed light on the significant impact of digital platforms on archival processes (Acker & Brubaker, 2014; Acker & Flamm, 2021; Kriesberg & Acker, 2022). These works demonstrate how digital platforms actively influence the ways archives preserve cultural memory, and emphasize the importance of a platform-centric approach for archivists, especially those dealing with social media. They underscore the vital role of a system’s affordances and infrastructure in managing social media data.

Building on this foundation, we explore the platformization of national memory. While previous research has examined the creation of web collections in national libraries (Maemura, 2023; Ogden & Maemura, 2021), or theorized a national library as a platform (Holderbein, 2021), we focus on the transition from analog to digital formats. We aim to dissect how platform imaginaries (van Es & Poell, 2020) shape the practices of memory agents, particularly in the context of the NLI. By doing so, we hope to contribute a nuanced understanding of the complexities involved in digitizing archives and the broader implications of this shift for national memory.

We structure our analysis around the four key interconnected elements outlined by van Dijck and Poell (2013): Programmability, Popularity, Connectivity, and Datafication. In our analysis, we examine how these features manifest in the digitization strategy of the NLI. Furthermore, following van Dijck and Poell’s (2013) assertion that similar to mass media, social media logic can extend beyond the confines of the platforms generating it, we aim to explore how this transformation differs from the traditional operations of libraries in an era predating the prevalence of social media, platforms, and digital technology.

Methodology

This research draws on ethnographic work conducted between 2013 and 2016 that studied the digitization of archival sources at the National Library of Israel (NLI). Since 2010, the National Library of Israel has been engaged in a process of digitization as part of its broader renewal efforts. The “Master Plan for the Library’s Renewal” outlines the mission statement of the revitalized NLI, emphasizing its commitment to collecting, disseminating, and preserving the creative endeavors and cultural heritage of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. The library’s goal is to enable access to its valuable resources from across the world, focusing on increasing the number of people who can benefit from its extensive collections.

The ethnographic approach allowed us to observe the work practices in the NLI’s digitization center and other sites involved in the NLI’s extensive digitization projects (Ringel, 2023; Ringel & Ribak, 2021). For over two years, the first author closely followed the library’s work practices, interactions, and decision-making processes, focusing specifically on the actual work of digitization. To gain additional insights and understanding of the NLI’s digitization strategies, she conducted 12 in-person interviews with key NLI professionals, including curators, project managers, scanning experts, archivists, and librarians. Through the interviews and observations, we explored the rationales and approaches behind these projects and the practices involved in their execution.

To further enrich our analysis, we analyzed official reports that offered valuable insights into the NLI’s digitization endeavors. These reports comprehensively overview the library’s articulated goals and strategies. By examining the library’s official documentation, we gained a deeper understanding of how professionals at the NLI communicate and mediate their decisions regarding digitization projects.

Integrating interview data, observation notes, and official reports allowed us to triangulate the information and identify major themes in the discourses and practices of archival digitization at the NLI, inductively tracing patterns and connections that shed light on the adoption of social media logic at the Library (Glaser & Strauss, 2017). In the following sections, we present our findings, focusing on how the four elements of social media logic, as identified by van Dijck and Poell (2013), manifest themselves from the initial stages of cultural production within a public memory institution—the NLI.

The Programmability of Archival Digitization

Platform studies emphasize programmability as a key characteristic. Programmability involves the capacity of web platforms to create or communicate with applications and services that access, publish, link to, or consume web resources. Through programmability, platform architectures allow external actors to engage with the platform’s infrastructure and customize it for their needs (Helmond, 2015; Plantin et al., 2018; van Dijck et al., 2018). In the context of social media logic, programmability refers to the platform’s ability to shape and guide user interactions while also allowing users to influence the flow of communication and information.

According to van Dijck and Poell (2013), programmability has two complementary components. The technological component includes computer code, data, algorithms, interfaces, and the organizations responsible for programming these platforms. These are hidden, to different extents, from users’ awareness, but shape their online practices—activities like sharing, liking, or recommending content. At the same time, programmability relates to human agency. Users play a significant role in steering programmability through their contributions and their potential to resist or defy platform instructions. Platforms may need to adjust policies based on user behavior to satisfy both users and advertisers. The logic of programmability combines crowdsourcing principles with editorial values, where both platform owners and users shape algorithmic mechanisms. This two-way online traffic has consequences for social interactions, social institutions, advertising, public relations, activism, and other public discourses, making it a central element of social media logic.

In archival digitization, programmability promises to enable users to transcend the limitations of the original historical analog design and engage with digitized materials in innovative ways. It involves the creation of a designated platform for presenting archival sources, allowing users to select, promote, mediate, interpret, and interact with the digitized historical objects. This shift toward platformized archivization may be exemplified by the “Israel Archive Network Project,” a collaborative initiative undertaken by the National Library of Israel in partnership with the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage.

The Israel Archive Network Project, A-Z, is designed to create a network of all the heritage archives in Israel and incorporate them into a unified catalog. The project’s description states, “The Israel Archive Network project promotes the preservation of Israeli heritage via digital media [. . .]. The project focuses on historical archives and on revealing archival materials which have been preserved in hundreds of different archives scattered across Israel to the general public.” The project’s main objective is “the creation of the most comprehensive database available of archival material originating in the Land of Israel.” ¹

The NLI’s Archive Network Project is modeled after the British A2A (Access to Archives) initiative, designed to facilitate public access to heritage materials by digitizing legacy records. Notably, the British model places a strong emphasis on the inclusion of materials with educational value, specifically targeting schools and higher education institutions. Another feature of the A2A initiative is the incorporation of archival sources that mirror the multicultural diversity of society. Moreover, the A2A initiative extends financial support to archives with regional significance, thereby ensuring the availability of a diverse and abundant pool of resources accessible to all interested parties. The standardization of archival descriptions within this framework further enhances the ease of access and facilitates research (Flynn et al., 2001). Various other archives, inspired by the British model, have also adopted similar online portals or network systems. These initiatives are often organized based on geographic, thematic, or institutional criteria, and they collectively represent a broader infrastructure designed to bring together diverse collections and provide enhanced accessibility (Castelli, 2003).

The centralization of diverse archives scattered throughout Israel into a unified platform illustrates what Plantin et al. (2018) refer to as the platformization of infrastructure and the infrastructuralization of platforms. Although rooted in distinct conceptual and historical origins, these terms now intersect in ways that shed light on the evolving relationship between public and commercial institutions, as infrastructures take on characteristics of platforms while platforms adopt infrastructure-like attributes. This convergence highlights a critical tension: media environments essential to our daily lives, which in the recent past would have been deemed infrastructures, are increasingly dominated by corporate entities operating as platforms.

This transformative process integrates platforms as vital infrastructures for everyday operations. By adopting this platform structure, the NLI substantially improves access to digitized archival materials, effectively overcoming the limitations of individual, smaller archives. The consolidation of these collections results in the NLI providing an expansive and comprehensive platform for users, offering a wealth of digitized archival sources. Simultaneously, the NLI centralizes access to these smaller archives, serving as an overarching platform that constitutes Israel’s most extensive and comprehensive database of archival sources. This synergy underscores the profound impact of digital technology on reshaping the landscape of archival accessibility and functionality.

In the contract agreement signed with the archives, the NLI, which provides the infrastructure, is granted permission to maintain, copy, and provide public access to the materials. However, all legal responsibilities, including copyright, remain with the archives, removing any liability from the NLI. These contractual terms bear similarities to the models employed by major platforms such as Google, Amazon, and Meta, where end-users often face challenges in maintaining ownership of their data (van Dijck et al., 2018).

The Israel Archive Project, with its centralized programmed portal, shapes users’ interactions with the past through a dedicated unified platform. This process is driven by a series of socio-technical decisions that affect how archival sources are presented and made accessible to the public. However, akin to social media algorithms that prioritize content without revealing the underlying human decisions, the decision-making process behind archive prioritization is obscure. Thus, the Israel Archive Network project initially aimed to encompass all 800 archives in Israel, but this ambitious goal proved unattainable. Consequently, the project prioritized specific archives for comprehensive digitization, while others received limited digitization or remained in analog form, listed but without an online presence. The criteria for archive selection, which are not disclosed, determine the scope and reach of the digitization effort. Documents pertaining to archival digitization remain vague in matters concerning human decision-making and focus instead on technical standards and procedures, emphasizing factors such as resolution, compression, file formats, and optical character recognition (OCR) techniques. The focus on technical aspects often overshadows the role played by human curators and archivists in selecting and prioritizing materials for digitization, a critical aspect of the digitization process.

The process of digitization adopts the programmability element of social media logic, wherein specific collections take precedence over others, resembling content prioritization on social media platforms. Archival platformization involves algorithmic and human decision-making, both of which are kept obscure. The adoption of platform logic in archival digitization echoes the concern over the consequences of automated decisions and the role of human agency in platformization (Bucher, 2018; Duffy et al., 2019; Nieborg & Poell, 2018) in shaping the preservation of cultural heritage, and the need for transparency and inclusivity in the digitization process.

Popularity: Archives for the Masses

The socio-technical process of selecting archives for digitization is closely tied to another facet of social media logic: popularity. The concept of popularity is influenced by a blend of algorithmic and socioeconomic factors. Within every social media platform, distinct mechanisms are crafted to amplify the popularity of individuals, objects, or ideas, often gauged through various metrics. These mechanisms are embedded within algorithms that actively elevate specific topics while diminishing the visibility of others (van Dijck & Poell, 2013). In archival digitization and preservation, popularity introduces unique challenges. Thus, Lossin (2017) notes critically that the shift toward digitization in libraries represents a fundamental change in collection building, access, and control since “in the name of democratizing knowledge, knowledge is in fact further rarified, compartmentalized and hived off” (p. 12). Kriesberg and Acker (2022) further highlight how platforms like Twitter, favored for their wide user reach, undermine traditional digital preservation practices, which were premised on discrete objects and metadata. The popularity of such platforms is not just about their user base but also includes user interaction features like likes, retweets, and comments which, in turn, shape archiving practices.

During our interviews with professionals at the NLI, popularity emerged as a guiding principle. For instance, popularity was a recurring topic in our interviews with curators and members of the Israel Archive Network Project committee. Given that the criteria for selecting archives that would receive the full digitization treatment were not publicly disclosed, we inquired about the prioritization process. Notably, the first concept that surfaced in response was the NLI’s aspiration to expand its audience, leading curators to opt for materials they deemed “interesting and appealing to the general public.” NLI professionals recognized that their traditional library patrons were primarily scholars and experts. Digitization was viewed as a tool to attract new users and engage with audiences that had not traditionally been the primary visitors to the NLI. This strategy aligns with the broader objective of revitalizing the library such that it attracts a diverse audience, as articulated by one of our interviewees:

Our approach to the general public includes people not like us, but more like our children and spouses. The general public consists of average Israeli users, not scholars or specific target audiences. We believe it would be a waste to digitize materials only for a small group of researchers. Instead, we aim to expand our audiences and allow all citizens of Israel to enjoy the treasures we preserve here, reaching out to new people we couldn’t serve in the past, thanks to digital technology.

The discourse concerning digitization, as it appears in the official reports and the interviews, presents digital technology as allowing the NLI to expand, open up to new users, democratize the access to collections that are currently used by a small group of researchers, and metaphorically break the barriers and walls of the physical, dusty archive. The NLI digitization vision strives to reach out to anyone interested in Israel and Judaism worldwide, while making the library a leading player in “the cultural and intellectual life of all citizens of the State of Israel, of Diaspora Jewry, and of the general public worldwide.” This rhetoric fits neatly with the long-standing rhetoric about the democratizing potential of the internet. It is similar to the discourse concerning internet platforms (Gillespie, 2010), ignoring the mediation involved in digitization and the practical (or inevitable) selection of some sources relevant to some users.

The quote from the interview illustrates the blend of economic and ideological incentives that underlie the decision to broaden the audience and reach new users. The digitization of archival sources is a resource-intensive process, demanding significant financial investments. NLI professionals recognize that attracting new audiences and engaging a wider segment of Israeli society can help rationalize the substantial costs involved in digitization. So, they forsake the traditional justification of the library through its contribution to scholarship, and justify the expenditure in terms of popularity.

This rationale is in line with the principles of what is often referred to as the “like-economy,” a concept initially introduced by the realm of social media (Gerlitz & Helmond, 2013). In the like-economy, the interactions and engagements of users within online platforms are transformed into valuable data. These data hold economic value, as they can be analyzed, interpreted, and monetized. Hence, the NLI’s strategy to expand its audience by making digitized archival content more accessible not only aligns with technical preservation logics but also offers a potential avenue for rationalizing the financial resources dedicated to this digitization effort. In essence, the more the public engages with and values the content uploaded by the NLI, the easier it becomes to defend the expenses incurred. This underscores the economic dimension underpinning the digitization strategy that is intertwined in the ideological commitment to ensure broader access to cultural heritage materials.

The social media logic integrated into the NLI’s digitization strategy resonates with mass media logic while drawing from conventional norms and strategies of popularity. However, the notion of popularity in social media diverges from mass media by not only measuring but also actively attempting to influence and manipulate it (van Dijck & Poell, 2013). Much like how social media algorithms prioritize certain content to attract greater user engagement, professionals at the NLI carefully select materials deemed “interesting and appealing to the general public” for scanning and upload to the NLI website. Furthermore, the selection of materials for digitization is intricately linked to the envisioned audiences they can attract through social media channels, focusing on materials that may appeal effectively to a broad social user base (Gerlitz & Helmond, 2013).

While the traditional users of the archive were experts with previous knowledge of how to use archival documents, as well as specific search interests, the “general public” requires further guidance and mediation, as described by an interviewee:

I don’t expect millions of people to log in to the archival network portal. Our mission is to attract the general public with specific items. For instance, not many people would rummage through the archive of the Religious Kibbutz Movement. While it is interesting, it appeals to a particular audience who can delve into the documents for hidden treasures. We acknowledge that the portal is useful for scholars, but we also want to expose the public to the preserved heritage. The general public doesn’t have the same patience as researchers to go through numerous documents. So, we need to make it easier for them, perhaps through curated exhibitions similar to a museum presentation. Let me give you the example of Lea Goldberg [Hebrew-language poet], with approximately 4000 drawings preserved. Uploading all of them may not interest many, but selecting 40 drawings, adding stories about her life and relevant information, can make it more attractive—that’s curatorial work.

The interviewee discusses two distinct access levels within the NLI’s digitization process. First, the NLI faces the task of selecting a mere 1% from its extensive collection for digitization. This initial level revolves around the critical process of determining which materials will find their place on the website. Just as the overarching project necessitates the careful selection of archives to be included, there exists another layer of selection, where specific items within these archives are chosen for digitization. The second level shifts focus to how these selected materials will be curated and narrated to users. It involves decisions such as their placement on the webpage—whether they will occupy prominent positions or reside further down the page. It considers the user’s experience in accessing them—whether users will actively need to search for these materials or if they will be effortlessly brought to their attention through social media channels.

The popular sentiment that undergirds social media logic involves addressing mass audiences. In public institutions like the NLI, this translates into a shift from catering to experts to attracting lay platform users and involves processes of selection and curation that must strike an unprecedented balance between popularity and preservation values, which in turn would shape collective memory.

Connectivity: Archives, Archivists, and the Public

Connectivity, initially a term rooted in hardware, has evolved into a socio-technical concept that now encompasses the capacity of networked platforms to link content, user activities, and advertisers. Within the realm of social media, an ecosystem has emerged where the platform mediates users’ actions and shapes their connections such that while they create the content, the platform maintains control over the formation and maintenance of their interconnections (van Dijck & Poell, 2013). van Dijck (2015) suggested the term “connectication,” which highlights the neoliberal agenda that penetrates national public spheres. She notes that online sociality is progressively bypassing national societal structures and that despite social media’s rhetoric of connectedness and openness, information flows are increasingly channeled through the platforms and according to their private interests.

Packer’s (2010) focus on archival technology—referred to as “apparatus lens”—situates connectivity in the mechanisms that bind together various network elements. In the context of the NLI, the apparatus lens prompts us to consider the underlying infrastructure and connections that interweave media, communications, and technology. Following Packer’s approach, the digitization of archival sources involves the intricate interconnection of humans and non-humans (Latour, 2005), including technicians, machines, archivists, librarians, curators, educators, students, and computers. All these elements come together, acting as a catalyst that creates and operates in concert with the platform.

This logic of connectivity carries great weight in the digitization of archival sources at the NLI. The Israel Archive Network Project itself is about connecting the public to the hidden treasures held within various Israeli archives and, importantly, uniting these previously dispersed archives and archivists under the unifying banner of the NLI’s platform. Thus, the traditional archives, once scattered throughout Israel, now find cohesion through this consolidated platform.

Connectivity stands as a guiding principle in other digitization initiatives at the NLI, notably the “Time Travel” digital project that aims to collect and scan Israeli ephemera and make them widely accessible. This project entails an ambitious set of objectives, including mapping existing ephemera collections within the Library and external sources, cataloging these items, conducting comprehensive scanning operations, designing and implementing a system that encourages public contributions and facilitates information sharing about these items, ensuring their digital preservation, and ultimately enhancing their accessibility. This initiative originated as part of a collaboration with UCLA in a large-scale mission to collect and preserve ephemera from across the globe. The overarching goal is to safeguard these transient yet culturally significant artifacts and make them available for the enrichment and engagement of a broader audience.

Developed within the broader Time Travel initiative, “The Good Doers” (Osei he-Chayil) subproject harnesses innovative technology and wisdom of the crowd to generate metadata for digital ephemera collections. Launched in 2014, The Good Doers crowdsourcing platform invites volunteers to identify, describe, tag, transcribe, classify and answer questions relating to ephemeral historical Israeli documents. By embracing crowdsourcing, the project taps into the expertise and knowledge of a diverse pool of individuals with specific insights about events, personalities, and locations featured in the ephemeral objects. Through this approach, the initiative aims to gather unique and valuable information, enriching the metadata and ensuring a comprehensive and collaborative effort in preserving and making accessible the cultural heritage contained within the digital ephemera collections.

The Time Travel initiative and The Good Doers projects exemplify the integration of social media logic into the Library’s digitization efforts. By gamifying the metadata collection and material organization processes, the NLI effectively encourages public engagement with archival materials, fostering user’s active participation in digitization projects. Through these initiatives and with digital technology, the NLI establishes connections between the public and digital heritage resources while facilitating collaboration among heritage preservation professionals using its infrastructure. Importantly, the NLI focuses on connecting the public to heritage resources and fostering professional cooperation rather than prioritizing ties with commercial entities. Thus, whereas connectivity emerges as a potent tool for redefining the boundaries between the private and public sectors and between commerce and the state (van Dijck & Poell, 2013), at the NLI it involves fostering ties between different archives and between users and curators.

However, the logic of connectivity may raise questions as to the politics inherent in digitization processes, particularly concerning the impact of mass digitization on local cultural knowledge (Guberek et al., 2019; Thylstrup, 2019). The post-custodial approach, developed by critical librarians and archivists, seeks to establish digital archiving practices that both redistribute resources and empower communities as owners of their documentary heritage (Alpert-Abrams et al., 2019). The NLI’s logic of connectivity, as it is implemented in the unification of diverse archives under a single portal and one access point, may be overlooking the unique needs and patrons of each archive. This complicates the notion of inclusivity, suggesting that the NLI’s homogenizing perspective may be sidelining diverse publics and their particular engagements with the platformized resources. Such concerns highlight the need for a more nuanced approach to archival platformization—one that recognizes and respects the distinctiveness of specific archives and their respective audiences.

Datafication of Heritage and Future Memory

Datafication, as explored by van Dijck and Poell (2013), consists of the extensive gathering of data from and by platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and similar sources (see Mayer-Schönberger & Cukier, 2013). This data accumulation facilitates real-time tracking and predictive analyses, providing businesses and government agencies with valuable insights into human behavior. van Dijck and Poell (2013) draw on Gitelman’s (2013) critique of the seeming “rawness” of data, pointing out that data are never unprocessed or pristine. Instead, data undergo substantial transformations as they are processed by the platform. This viewpoint complicates any simplistic portrayal of data and underscores that their collection and manipulation are intricately tied to historical, societal, cultural, and economic contexts (Bowker, 2013).

In archival studies, the echoes of this debate challenge the perception that archivists lack agency in managing, preserving, and cataloging collections, particularly digital ones. It emphasizes that data are never truly raw; rather, they are always produced, curated, preserved, and presented within specific contexts. In this spirit, Guberek et al. (2019) highlighted the significant, often irreversible effects of simplistic and expedient digitization methods, particularly when implemented under conditions of armed conflict and human rights crises. Complementing this, Thylstrup (2019) observed that mass digitization may give rise to new cultural memory institutions on the web. These institutions not only reflect the cultural politics of their analog origins but also introduce fresh political dilemmas. Together, these studies underscore the inherent political dimensions of digitization, illustrating that archival sources, whether analog or digital, are far from mere raw materials.

Nonetheless, interviews with NLI professionals painted digitized archival sources as pristine and unprocessed. When queried about the selection of archival sources for digitization and their presentation for public access, the interviewees appeared to downplay their involvement and mediation, describing the scans as “raw materials. We are trying to pack these in digital packages and present them on websites [. . .] we add some information from time to time, some basic information on the materials themselves, but beyond that, we do not touch them.”

The NLI’s entire selection process for digitization illustrates this curatorial approach. As already suggested, in aiming to attract new audiences and broaden their outreach and by presenting specific items from collections and providing contextual information, the NLI does not simply digitize but instead acts as a curator, shaping how users interact with the digitized materials. This curatorial work is essential to ensure that digitized archives are not overwhelming but rather accessible and appealing to lay audiences. However, as materials are selected and packaged for digitization, certain voices and perspectives may be prioritized over others. In addition, the transformation of complex historical records into digital formats may oversimplify or misrepresent the richness of the original materials, which inevitably carries their own biases. Moreover, the accessibility of certain materials may be restricted due to various factors such as copyright restrictions or language barriers.

The element of datafication in digitization at the NLI was also evident in how professionals grappled with preserving digital-born materials. During the interviews, they expressed concerns regarding heritage materials being produced today. Kirschenbaum (2016) shares this profoundly humanistic—rather than technical—concern when he underscores the critical importance of documenting authors’ computing environments in contemporary archives. In this spirit, one of the curators at the Library highlighted an intriguing contrast between the archives of past and present writers by pointing to the archive of Rachel the poet (a revered national figure), which contains invaluable insights into her creative process, with handwritten drafts and visible erasures revealing the evolution of her works. However, with the advent of modern technology, contemporary poets and authors tend to compose their texts directly on computers, leading to a potential gap in our understanding of their creative journeys.

To address this challenge, the Library published a policy document outlining a proposed solution according to which the Library’s content committee would select contemporary authors and equip their personal computers with specialized software. This system would enable a comprehensive tracking and chronicling of the writers’ writing processes, bridging the gap and offering a complete understanding of their literary endeavors. This is how it is described in the policy document:

Considering the ways in which material is formed in the 21st century, it is vital to procure technology which will enable the ongoing collection of born-digital archival material of artists, authors, etc. in their lifetime. The considerations for collecting archives of this kind are entirely different from those relating to physical archives. “Promising” artists, authors etc. must be located when still young, and their work, correspondence and photos that are born digital, must be preserved throughout their lifetime. This carries a certain degree of risk, since it is impossible to tell whether a young “promising artist” will go on to become one whose works will be considered worthy of collection or that his professional and social milieu will justify preserving his correspondence and so on. Therefore NLI should select promising figures from the cultural world, such as authors, poets, artists, journalists, philosophers, and scholars, and “adopt” them throughout their lifetime by means of ongoing collection (at least once a year) of their work and their digitally documented activities.

The NLI adopts a proactive approach to ensure the comprehensive and continuous collection of digital-born materials from promising cultural figures. This process aims to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds, preserving valuable cultural heritage and ensuring that the creative journeys of contemporary writers and artists are documented and made accessible for future generations. This approach expresses datafication in that it assumes that the creative process can be studied by subjecting authors—or at least their digital selves—to constant surveillance. While enhancing contextualization and interpretation, tracking digital-born personal mail and documents of potential authors in real time is quite different from gaining posthumous access to literary archives, making young authors aware of an external public eye, and affecting their own creative process.

In addition, this solution raises critical questions about who is deemed “promising” and how the content committee establishes these categories. The process of selecting which artists to track is intricately tied to the act of canonization (Assmann, 2008), as it not only predicts but also actively constructs the future cultural landscape. This paradoxical aspect of digital recording exemplifies how dataism (van Dijck, 2014) has permeated every sector of society, including heritage institutions. While the NLI’s approach offers an effective means for preserving valuable digital-born heritage materials, it also underscores the potential pitfalls and challenges in adopting datafiction when shaping cultural preservation and future memory.

Datafication is at the heart of the NLI’s digitization process of translating analog collections into machine-readable, trackable, and analyzable data. While seemingly technical, we find that both the prioritization and selection of the materials that are scanned and presented, and the choice of future canonical authors whose work is tracked at the present, involve cultural politics and carry consequences for collective memory.

Concluding Comments

This analysis highlighted the pervasiveness of social media logic even in public heritage institutions, even before the content reaches social networks. Specifically, our analysis has shown how ideas about programmability translate into the creation of a platform that interconnects previously unrelated archives and users, how the imperative of popularity and user engagement defines the strategy of selection and curation, and how the normalization of datafication informs not only the digitization of historical objects but also of contemporary subjects deemed worthy of tracking. Although digitization ostensibly serves the long-term preservation of materials, it simultaneously serves as a conduit to engage the broader public. Adopting the popularity-driven ethos of social media logic, NLI professionals curate materials they believe will captivate and resonate with a wider audience. Nevertheless, in their portrayal of these resources as “raw” materials requiring mere repackaging to attract these new audiences, they overlook their role as intermediaries. This discourse aligns with platform narratives that skirt accountability for content publication (Gillespie, 2010), often maintaining that they merely publish user-generated content.

These emerging trends are mirrored in other libraries, further exemplifying the infusion of platform attributes and strategies into contemporary public information institutions. Holderbein’s (2021) examination of the Norwegian library system is a compelling illustration of similar assimilation of platform qualities and strategies. She finds that platformization is manifested in the Norwegian Library across three dimensions: data infrastructure, economic mechanisms, and governmental frameworks. Like the NLI, the Norwegian library system distinguishes itself from the conventional commercial platform model of Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft in a conscious effort to uphold public values. However, both adopt platform strategies and attributes, seeking innovation while optimizing economic and operational efficiencies, and both are dedicated to democratizing information access and aiming to empower their users.

Maemura (2023) and Ogden and Maemura (2021) provide further evidence supporting this observation in their comparative studies of the British Library and the Netarchive at the Royal Danish Library. Their analysis demonstrates the complexities and challenges of web archiving in national digital collections, underscoring the significant role of contemporary decisions on the creation and utilization of digital archives. Curatorial decisions and archival practices not only preserve the digital past but also actively participate in shaping the knowledge production process. Our analysis of the NLI complements these observations on the impact of platformization in public information institutions by showing how social media logic is embedded in the digitization process even before the content for scanning is selected.

Through the adoption of an approach inspired by programmability, popularity, connectivity, and datafication (van Dijck & Poell, 2013), the NLI not only anticipates but, in fact, actively shapes future memory. As the NLI continues to fulfill its historical role as a mediator between the past and the future, its digitization practices transcend the mere transformation of analog to digital, as these are intertwined with platformization as a socio-technical practice. Our analysis of the digitization process at the NLI highlights the multifaceted interplay between technology, culture, and memory.