media ecology,
ecology of memory,
neo-tribes,
digital enthusiasm,
emotional work
Abstract
In this study, online communities dedicated to Moscow are ethnographically examined. The aim is to describe the strategies of representation and consumption of urban memory, as well as to analyze the media environment. Two Facebook* groups are compared with each other and with a retro image-oriented platform - Pastvu.com. The concepts of emotional work and digital enthusiasm are shown to be applicable to the comparison of online groups. The results of the empirical analysis show different patterns and directions of emotional work and digital enthusiasm in the two Facebook* groups. The Pastvu.com platform represents a “different species” in the media ecology. Although Facebook* groups are inevitably familiar with Pastvu.com, their permanent proximity is undesirable. Pastvu.com has no equivalents and represents a technological innovation in the field of memory ecology.
