Art and Design Commons^™

Reifying Digital Histories, Ed Ryan

Honors Theses

The use of sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat is rooted in nowness. Most users rarely think about the long-term aspects of their relationship with the networks to which they belong, instead focusing on an ever-refreshing interface filled with fresh content. But what happens to this content when it is removed from its familiar digital context? Do the archived interactions, updates, tweets, and other pieces of our digital histories take on new meaning when placed onto a physical substrate? Using the form of the book and my personal Twitter archive, I have addressed my own digital history, looking specifically …