Representation of Memorial Objects in the Digital Environment (Using the Itelmen Culture as an Example)

Digital technologies allow transferring traditional methods of communication of individuals to the online environment. Commemorative practices and repositories of national memory should also be digitized to configure the identity of social media users in order to avoid digital unification of individuals through the consumption of impersonal content. Using the example of the indigenous people of Kamchatka – Itelmen, the phenomenon of representation of traditional memorial objects in modern media is examined. Using narrative analysis, the “cores” of mythological narratives were identified that convey basic information about the collective memory of the people. These “cores” made it possible to formulate the “keys” of digital representation of mythological narratives, thanks to which it is possible to select memorial content for further analysis. Software data collection and text corpus analysis from two communities, “AKMNS” and “Kamchatsky Sever” on the VKontakte platform, proved that in modern media, the representation of Itelmen memorial objects occurs according to two concepts of A. Assmann: in the first community, the collective memory of the Itelmens is configured by state organizations “from top to bottom”, while individual enthusiasts clothe classical legends, myths and commemorative practices of the people in new digital forms and transmit narratives of memory “from bottom to top”.