Mediatization of collective testimonies during the Russian-Ukrainian War 2022-2023

Abstract

The article briefly outlines the directions of the modern theory of the mediatization of war, identifies the main characteristics of participatory initiatives, practices of creating media platforms for collective testimonies and remediation tools for understanding the experience of war. The mass documentation of testimonies during the war contributed to the formation of user-generated content as foundational one in the understanding of modern mediatization processes. New media has become the main tool for collecting, distributing and archiving personal stories and war testimonies. Social networks, digital platforms, online museums, YouTube channels and messengers determine the algorithms for the formation of the collective discourse of war, radically transforming the Ukrainian media landscape. In the process of gathering evidence, various documentation practices were implemented almost simultaneously: mass publication of stories, testimonies, video and photo materials on separate resources, social networks; creation of platforms with digital archiving, processing, cataloging and storage capabilities; creative reinterpretation of the life stories of the victims and witnesses using various media, visual arts, graphics, documentaries, and cinematography. Three thematic areas of collecting collective testimonies are presented: documenting war crimes on state official platforms, websites of public organizations and the online museum; media testimonies and media archives; remediation as a variant of prolonged communication, commemoration, a possible means of destigmatizing traumatic content.