Bodil Axelsson is a researcher at Linköpings university. Her interdisciplinary research examines heritagization, that is processes in which cultural institutions, associations and individuals produce meaningful pasts.
Moreover she does fieldwork on cultural institution’s digital practices. Previous research projects have focused on historical theater plays, popular history magazines, cultural history museum’s contemporary collecting, and artistic work.
At Sharing is Caring, Bodil will examine what happens when curatorial operations such as selection, organization, synthesis and exhibition of meaningful pasts are distributed between people and technology. What effects do human and computational processes have on selection and viewing? Does digitization always lead to a more democratic heritage? Viewed through the lens of political economy, sharing and participation becomes a gift, not only for the public good, but also for the social media businesses when data traces are turned into private goods of value in the informational capitalism.