Abstract
This paper examines the role of digital co-curation in the representation of the First World War in Britain within the heritage and academic sector. By examining the conflict as a historical trauma which is felt and experienced in the present, the utility of digital co-curation in addressing this continuing sense of pain and shock is assessed. Through an analytical perspective, developed from ‘Critical Discourse Analysis’, the online exhibitions, archives and websites that draw upon public assistance as part of co-curation initiatives will be examined. This assessment will demonstrate how digital co-curation operates beyond the traditional format of historical texts, museum exhibitions or archive displays, by engaging directly with how the war is experienced and felt in the present. Through the validation and valuing of these public perspectives, digital co-curation projects have provided a highly suitable format for addressing the historical trauma of the First World War in Britain as a present phenomenon rather than a ‘closed-off’ past.
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