Spaces: What’s at Stake in Their Digital Public Histories?

Abstract

Public histories of spaces are often at the heart of territorial claims: theycan cultivate emotional identification, oreven build legitimizing facts on the ground.Digital technologies have increased public awareness of, and ability to mobilize, thepower of public histories of spaces. This means more influence for both official andgrassroots channels to spread, augment, or contest spatial narratives. We argue thatthose who take care of spaces and their archival records, and interpret them for thepublic, have the opportunity to play an important public role. Through diverse exam-ples, this chapter shows how control of iconography, access, and ownership is at stake.