Visual representation of the historical city in digital media

 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34680/urbis-2024-4(1)-39-50

 

Olga Shirokova
Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University, Veliky Novgorod, Russia
[email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-1257-6571

 

ABSTRACT

The article analyses the visual representation of the historical city in digital media as one of the leading ways of urban identity. The author shows that the connection of the image with the city, which is a territorial carrier of visual and symbolic information, and with city digital representation is established and coordinated with the help of an intermediary – digital media, including social networks. On the example of Veliky Novgorod, it is investigated how the image of the city in the media environment shapes the idea of the real urban space for most Internet users. The article identifies the main elements of urban space that emphasize Veliky Novgorod’s status as a historical city: cultural-historical and natural landscape. The visual representation of the historic city emphasizes the uniqueness of a place and expresses local identity, which allows one to distinguish a certain urban space in the endless flow of visual data. At the same time, the author notes that digital media do not display the entire urban space, but only the part that is recorded and then actively disseminated by Internet users. Such incompleteness of the visual representation of the historical city provokes the emergence of socio-cultural distortions: the reproduction of basic visual patterns works to form a stereotypical image that does not reflect the heterogeneity of the real urban environment.

 

KEYWORDS: historical city, digital photography, urban identity, Veliky Novgorod, image of the city, visual representation.

 

References

Avanesov, S. S. (2014). Visuality and communication. ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics, 2(2), 11–25. (In Russian).

 

Benjamin, W. (2013). Kleine Geschichte der Photographie (S. Romashko, Trans.). Ad Marginem Press. (In Russian).

 

Golub, O., Ozerina, A., & Timofeeva, T. (2020). Representation of urban identity in media space. In N. L. Shamne, S. Cindori, E. Y. Malushko, O.

 

Larouk, & V. G. Lizunkov (Eds.), Individual and Society in the Modern Geopolitical Environment, vol. 99. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 295–301). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2020.12.04.35.

 

Howard, E. (1902). Garden cities of tomorrow. Swan Sonnenschein & Co.

 

Lisenkova, A. A., & Melnikova, A. Yu. (2018). Digital media as mirror of modern culture. Scientific Review. International Scientific and Practical Journal, 1, 1–8. https://srjournal.ru/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ID95.pdf. (In Russian).

 

Lynch, K. (1986). The image of the city (V. L. Glazychev, Trans.). Stroyizdat. (In Russian).

 

Mitchell, W. F. T. (2005). What do pictures want?: The lives and loves of images. University of Chicago Press.

 

Naumenko, V. E., & Sultanov, R. S. «Historical town»: To the definition of the notion. Cultural Studies of Russian South, 4(38), 5–7. (In Russian).

 

Prokudin, D. E., & Sokolov, E. G. (2018). “Digital culture” vs “analog culture”. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Philosophy and Conflict Studies, 29(4), 83–91. (In Russian).

Ryzhkova, O. A. (2022). Urban culture in the visual code of social networks. In S. S. Avanesov & E. I. Speshilova (Eds.), Visual Anthropology – 2022. Historical City: Actualization of the Past in the Perspective of the Future (pp. 170–175). Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University. (In Russian).

 

Savchuk, V. V. (2012). Topological reflection. “Canon+” ROOI “Rehabilitation”. (In Russian).

 

Seroshtanova, N. Yu. (2021). Digital identity of a citizen. Proceedings of Higher Educational Institutions. Ural Region, 3, 25–29. (In Russian).

 

Speshilova, E. I. (2023). Urban imaginary: City image and media space. Galactica Media: Journal of Media Studies, 5(3), 35–54. https://doi.org/10.46539/gmd.v5i3.398. (In Russian).

 

Toffler, A. (2004). The third wave. AST Publishers. (In Russian).

 

Wagner, C. (2022). Visualizations of urban space: Digital age, aesthetics, and politics. Routledge.

 

Vlasova, Ya. M. (2010). Visual image in modern culture: Towards the formulation of the problem. Science Journal of Volgograd State University. Young Scientists’ Research, 8(1), 127–129. (In Russian).

 

Yurenkova, E. A. Representation of visual images of Ivanovo in view postcards. News of Higher Schools. Series “Humanities”, 5(2), 151–156. (In Russian).

 

 

Information about the author
Olga V. Shirokova
Master of Culturology
Research Fellow of the Research and Educational
Centre for Humanitarian Urbanistics
Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University
41, Bolshaya Sankt-Peterburgskaya St.,
Veliky Novgorod, 173003, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0002-1257-6571
e-mail: [email protected]

 

For citation:
Shirokova, O. V. (2024). Visual representation of the historical city in digital media. Urbis et Orbis. Microhistory and Semiotics of the City, 4(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.34680/urbis-2024-4(1)-39-50