Europe and Media: the History on the Web France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Spain

Europe and media: the History on the Web France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Spain 1 11 In this volume of “Il Filo d’Europa” we bring out the first research re- port made by Istituto storico Parri Emilia-Romagna with Europe Di- rect Emilia-Romagna and Videoteca of Legislative Assembly of the Emilia-Romagna Region, for the project “Europe and media: the history in the web”. We continue in this way our engagement, after the conclusion of the project that has investigated the European history on the national televisions, in order to understand how history is described through the new media and to imagine together a possible Euro- pean history. Stefania Fenati Istituto Storico Parri Emilia-Romagna The Istituto Storico Parri Emilia-Romagna was established in 1963. Its mission is to promote retrieval and knowledge of contemporary history’s sources. The main objective of the Institute is the study and research of the history of the 20th century. Videoteca Regionale The Regional Video Library was established in 1996 by the Legisla- tive Assembly of the Region Emilia-Romagna in collaboration with Istituto Beni Culturali, Artistici e Naturali. It is part of the Library of the Legislative Assembly of the Region Emilia-Romagna. Europe Direct of Emilia-Romagna The Europe Direct network is the main instrument used by the Eu- ropean institutions to encourage contacts with regional territories and citizens. It acts as intermediary between the EU and citizens at local level and allows citizens to have information, advice, assistan- ce and answers on EU policies and funding, and an opportunity to communicate with European institutions as well. 2 11 INDEX Introduction History throughout the Web:first step of a trans European investigation Luisa Cigognetti, Lorenza Servetti, Pierre Sorlin p. 4 France History on the French Web Pierre Sorlin p. 11 Great Britain History on line: Great Britain Robyn Cooper p. 31 Hungary The representation of historical topics on the Internet in Hungary Teréz Vincze p. 57 Italy Web and History: a Question of Identity? Claudia Covelli p. 79 Slovenia Vernacular interventions in post-socialist digital media: Historical represences and diversities from Slovenian perspective Martin Pogačar p. 89 Spain Diffusion of history in the social networks of the European Union María Antonia Paz and Julio Montero p. 133 History on Wikipedia Piero Grandesso p. 170 Conclusions Luisa Cigognetti, Lorenza Servetti, Pierre Sorlin p. 185 3 11 Introduction Introduction HISTORY THROUGHOUT THE WEB First step of a trans European investigation Luisa Cigognetti, Lorenza Servetti, Pierre Sorlin (Istituto Storico Parri Emi- lia Romagna) Objectives of the research Today, the E.U. is provided with an institutional structure and the embryo of a financial system, but the majority of its inhabitants con- ceive of themselves as citizens of a nation, not as European citizens. The sense of belonging to a community is based on the sharing, with one’s fellows, of traditions, customary practices, and expecta- tions. Ideas and images related to the past of the nation are part of such background, in manners that change from country to country and, inside each country, from group to group and class to class. Institutions that have been extensively studied, in the first place school, diffuse the basic notions relating to a common past. What mark school teaching leaves in the mind of those who have long lost close contact with the institution? Politicians and social analysts are in a quandary about the problem. The historical Institute Parri in Bologna, sponsored by the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, made a five year investigation about the representation of history diffused by the television networks of the European Union whose final step was the publication of That many pasts for a Common future? History on Television in the Countries of the European Union, a volume com- pleted thanks to the collaboration of 18 specialists, that shows how History is presented on the televisions of 14 countries, puts in the fare the similarities and differences, and offers guide lines for history programmes likely to interest all citizens of the European Union. The importance of television in the creation of an historical memory is undeniable but the question remains open to understand how viewers have interpreted and memorized what they have seen on the small screen. It is now possible to answer at least partially this query by resorting to Internet, more precisely by looking at the messages 4 11 Cigognetti, Servetti, Sorlin that circulate daily on the web or at the debates that take place in forums, especially in occasion of anniversaries, or when political or economic crisis conjure up personal memories, historical common places and stereotyped tales. The rumours that circulate continuously on the web give an in- kling of how people see the world and judge their epoch. What are the weight and part of notions about a common past in these exchanges? Do they occur often, seldom, never? When they are cited, what are the circumstances, events, figures that are evoked? More precisely, where the E.U. is concerned, is the past that is men- tioned in social networks exclusively national, or related to other nations? In a friendly or a diffident way? Do allusions include, at times, references to Europe or to the European idea? We don’t know whether, in Europe, as it is now, the interest for the national past is noteworthy or insignificant. There is probably no general answer. On the one hand, Europe is a “union” of many different pasts, with peculiar history narrations. On the other, some contemporary events make a particularly strong impact on public opinion and reactivate old reminiscences. Those who have follo- wed the evolution of the Greek financial and economic crisis have noted how quickly records of WWII resurfaced and how much they mattered for a large portion of the Greek population. Our aim is to gauge the importance of references or allusions to historical facts that circulate on the net but our field of view is limited to the small part of Europe that we know. We have therefore had recourse to experts of other countries, namely France, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom, because we assume that “natives” are more intellectually equipped than us to tackle the problem. The study of cyber social networks, forums and blogs is a rather new field of research. The reason may be that the messages regi- stered in social networks are often blunt, originate in previous messages, develop along a long chain of antecedent missives and 5 11 Introduction any rate are ephemeral. In the last decade of the 20th century pio- neers have begun to develop storytelling on the web, much has already be done in this area, but the study of forums, social networks and blogs as a potential source of social or historical investiga- tions is still in its infancy. The Internet Memory Foundation (<http:// www.archive.org/index.php>) federates some web archiving institutions but, most of the time, the collections are not available on line and, when they are accessible, must be consulted on the premises. Moreover, the catalogues, rudimentary, are not fit for a research as precise as ours. Among the few works dedicated to the study of the field, we must highlight the doctorate of a member of our squad, Martin Pogacar. Martin has scrutinized the historical memory of the ex Yugoslavia such as it appears in today social networks. His work, written in English, is a first class contribution to the study of these media; the material he uses is close to the one we should study. Our questions The messages that go around the web, being short and sent wi- thout previous planning, have recourse to the patterns, news of the day, debates and chats prevailing et the moment. Unwillingly, they convey an immediate reaction to topics considered of interest but soon forgotten. History, or rather allusions to events, dates, in- dividuals labelled as “historical” are part of the common references shared by the members of any community, be it a nation or a small village. For many, the past is a “heritage” to be safeguarded, some forumers, web surfers or bloggers are intent on saving and spreading “unknown” documents or documents likely to be lost or destroyed. Our assumption is that in many occurrences historical hints serve to give more substance to a short message and establish connivance between the issuer and those who catch the signal. Do people refer to the same data when they argue about past events? The warmth of some discussions gives the impression that, at times, they don’t. There is often passion in the talks, the past may be a mere starting point for a contest – but its use as a pretext to begin a debate is probably not insignificant. 6 11 Cigognetti, Servetti, Sorlin The aim of our research is to spot such rudimentary uses of history. Allusions are generally short, misleading, untimely, but we are not concerned with accuracy. On the contrary legends, false interpretations, inventions, polemics about the past matter a great deal for our exploration. Is the word “legends” too strong? In the place where we live some events or characters, while factually attested, have acquired such a dimension that, cancelling other events or characters, they have acquired some sort of legendary stance. It may be that such distortions have never occurred in other countries. We are not concerned about “historical truth” or accuracy. Yet, in some instances, it may be useful to signal false interpretations or manifestly wrong statements. Those who surf the net, regularly come across statements such as “It is not because it won WW II that Germany must rule Europe”.

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