Professional Communication research team looks to expand the process of public commemoration
In light of recent events surrounding the controversial history of a number of statues and other monuments, many critical questions have been raised, such as, ‘who or what should be commemorated in public spaces? What should a plaque say and why? Who gets to make these decisions at each stage?’ And, most importantly, ‘how can these spaces better represent equity-seeking communities?’.
Dr. David Colangelo (opens in new window) , Professor in the School of Professional Communication (opens in new window) , and Bhavya Malhotra, a third-year Professional Communication student, look to address these questions through a new initiative - The Digital Monument: community-led policies and practices for inclusive and equitable public spaces of communication and commemoration.
Dr. David Colangelo, Professor in the School of Professional Communications and Principal Investigator of The Digital Monument project
Image courtesy of David Colangelo
Bhavya Malhotra, third-year Professional Communication student and research assistant for The Digital Monument
Image courtesy of Bhavya Malhotra
It’s hard to see the values and beliefs of your community reflected back to you in something that wasn’t built with you in mind, and can’t or doesn’t change
The hidden significance of monuments
In her research, student Bhavya Malhotra noted the findings of the Philadelphia-based Monument Lab’s National Monument Audit (external link, opens in new window) . The study found that the monument landscape is overwhelmingly white and male, and often reflects war and conquest. Furthermore, the stories told by current monuments misrepresent the history of towns, cities and even entire countries.
“The idea is to ask how the flexibility of digital technologies like screens and projections might allow the monument to have many meanings by treating them as dynamic spaces of communication and commemoration which engage communities of use, especially equity-deserving groups, in their planning, production, and programming.”
The Digital Monument aims to influence and stimulate the creation of more respectful, just, and collectively meaningful monuments that more equitably and accurately reflect the past, present, and future of communities who engage with them.
“Plaques, monuments, and statues appear to us as legitimate and complete. It is easy to assume that what they represent is widely accepted and evocative of our shared values,” said Malhotra, research assistant on The Digital Monument. “Therein lies the power of monumentality, but also the problem. How do we deconstruct, democratize, and decolonize monumentality? How can we question this power of official public address, redirect it, and redistribute it more equitably?”
Blueprints for digitization and success
The year-long, multi-step project relies heavily on community participation and input. To start, the research team will engage with equity-deserving groups in the Ryerson community through the creation of the Digital Monument Advisory Group (DMAG). Students, staff and faculty are invited to be a part of the DMAG and will be compensated for their participation.
Ryerson's RIC building features an LED facade, which Colangelo utilized in the 'RyeLights' project
The research team will support the DMAG in developing new guidelines for “digital monumentality” based on guided discussions, workshops, design charrettes, and the results of Ryerson community surveys.
The policy and programming recommendations for digital monumentality that emerge will be made publicly available as a free-to-access Digital Monument Playbook (DMP) and shared with academia, public sectors, private sectors, and other stakeholders.
From there, municipalities and organizations considering developing new spaces of communication and commemoration will be able to consult the DMP for guidance. The research team also hopes their work will be of service to the Standing Strong Taskforce, namely in addressing recommendation #14 from their recently released (PDF file) report (opens in new window) which calls for “a community-based, interactive public art installation space in a prominent location on campus.”
Colangelo is no stranger to digital monuments and screens. His award-winning book (opens in new window) , The Building as Screen: A history, theory, and practice of massive media, examines digital screens and challenges their primary use in society as corporate conveyance.
His previous projects, such as RyeLights (opens in new window) and Receipts (external link, opens in new window) , show how such spaces and screens can be reimagined to be more engaging and better reflect the lived experiences of community members, such as those who experience anti-Asian hate. The Digital Monument builds off this work and will further provide a roadmap for coordinated stakeholder engagement.
The Creative School at Ryerson University
The Creative School is a dynamic faculty that is making a difference in new, unexplored ways. Made up of Canada’s top professional schools and transdisciplinary hubs in media, communication, design and cultural industries, The Creative School offers students an unparalleled global experience in the heart of downtown Toronto.