Study confirms: Digital, participatory remembrance formats work
Digital and participatory projects such as #everynamecounts strengthen the long-term commitment to remembrance
Digital and participatory projects such as #everynamecounts strengthen the long-term commitment to remembrance, democracy and human rights. This was confirmed for the first time in a recent academic study by the Hertie School and the WZB Berlin Social Science Center in collaboration with the Arolsen Archives.
The study focuses on the Arolsen Archives’ crowdsourcing project #everynamecounts, in which volunteers digitize information about victims of National Socialism. Its key finding: People who participate actively show far greater willingness to engage in social causes – especially in the fight against anti-Semitism.
The researchers used two randomized studies with around 1,500 participants to compare the impact of active project work with the provision of information alone. After completing the project, active participants were more highly motivated to support initiatives, sign petitions and donate more.
Trust in effectiveness and long-term commitment
“Our findings reveal the potential of participatory approaches compared to traditional methods that focus exclusively on conveying information. They strengthen people’s confidence in their ability to make a difference – a key driver of civic engagement,” explains study coordinatorProf. Ruth Ditlmann from the Hertie School.
The study also elucidates how participatory remembrance efforts strengthen people’s confidence in personal agency – a crucial factor for lasting social engagement. Participants reported that involvement gave them the sense of actively contributing to preserving remembrance and building an open society.
Remembrance work promotes broad historical awareness
Floriane Azoulay, Director of the Arolsen Archives, emphasizes: “Active and low-threshold personal involvement in digital remembrance projects is extremely important to us. The study now even demonstrates: A personal involvement in #everynamecounts creates a collective and powerful form of remembrance that was not possible before – personal and globally connected, while engaging with others. This creates space for reflection and experience, and points the way to action.“
Furthermore, the study shows that a critical appraisal of Nazi persecution can also raise awareness of other historical injustices – such as colonial crimes. This contradicts – on a personal level at least – the assumption that remembrance is a zero-sum game in which different commemorative occasions vie for attention.
The study underlines the potential of digital commemorative projects such as #everynamecounts. At the same time, the authors emphasize the need for further research – for example on participatory formats in other countries and on other forms of historical injustice.
The study design at a glance
- Conducted by researchers, the Hertie School and WZB Berlin Social Science Center in cooperation with the Arolsen Archives
- Two randomized studies with around 1,500 participants in total plus a qualitative preliminary study
- Comparison between active participation, information provision and control group
Half of the group actively participated in the project, the other half only received information about Nazi persecution and archived documents from the Arolsen Archives (Study 1) or no information at all (Study 2). Both groups were then interviewed.
Additional information and link to the study
The complete study “Participating in a Digital-History Project Mobilizes People for Symbolic Justice and Better Intergroup Relations Today“ by Ruth Ditlmann, Berenike Firestone and Oguzhan Turkoglu can be accessed here. The project was funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.
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