Networked memory’s places or how the symbols of the past are becoming an area of network users’ activity

The main aim of the study is to attempt an reinterpretation of the category of “lieux de mémoire” (Pierre Nora) in the context of digitalization process and the functions of the new media in the modern culture. The paper argues that symbolic and historical meaning of “lieux de mémoire” is changing today as a consequence of the strong development of the Internet. According to that fact the “places of memory” really often become a part of Internet, they are “networked”. The article focuses on the analysis of the selected examples of the “networked places of memory” (especially virtual cemeteries and virtual museums). The author discusses the differences between the classical “lieux de mémoire” and the networked ones and tries to show the main distinguishing marks of the new kind of the “places of memory”. The paper refers to the thesis of Andrzej Szpociński, Jan Assmann, Paul Connerton, Mizuko Ito and others.