Tides of Memory: Digital Echoes of Netizen Remembran

2025-09-20

AI Summary

This study addresses the challenge of preserving collective memory in the digital age through visualizable, immersive mechanisms. Methodologically, it analyzes online mourning practices on Weibo for seven deceased Chinese literary figures, employing web crawling to collect memorial texts, followed by semantic mining via term frequency analysis, LDA topic modeling, and user interaction metrics. Emotion- and theme-driven 3D modeling is then applied to construct immersive digital memorials. The contribution lies in innovatively integrating digital humanities, computational linguistics, and commemorative spatial design—proposing a semantics-based paradigm for collective memory activation. Results include multiple interactive, data-driven digital memorial installations that empirically reveal affective trajectories and discursive structures underlying online mourning, while advancing interdisciplinary methodological frameworks for cultural heritage transmission and public memory re-production through digital mnemonic artifacts. (149 words)

Technology Category

• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Semantic Web
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Computational Creativity

Application Category

• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Web data visualization
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web query analysis, representation and understanding
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience

Abstract

This artwork presents an interdisciplinary interaction installation that visualizes collective online mourning behavior in China. By focusing on commemorative content posted on Sina Weibo following the deaths of seven prominent Chinese authors, the artwork employs data scraping, natural language processing, and 3D modeling to transform fragmented textual expressions into immersive digital monuments. Through the analysis of word frequencies, topic models, and user engagement metrics, the system constructs a semantic-visual landscape that reflects both authorial legacies and collective memory. This research contributes to the fields of digital humanities, visualization design, and digital memorial architecture by proposing a novel approach for preserving and reactivating collective memory in the digital age.

Problem

• Visualizing collective online mourning behavior through digital monuments
• Transforming fragmented textual expressions into immersive 3D memorials
• Preserving and reactivating collective memory in the digital age

Innovation

• Data scraping and NLP to analyze Weibo mourning content
• Topic modeling and engagement metrics for semantic visualization
• 3D modeling transforms text into immersive digital monuments