When Memories Become Data

Abstract This chapter sets an agenda for the study of the platformization of memory. It argues that platforms—which are defined simultaneously as business models and technological infrastructures—shape memory work and, increasingly, automatically remember for us. This occurs through the rendition of memories into data, which are then transformed and represented to users as memories. An argument is made that, in the process of platformization, platform users come to depend on not only platforms to keep their autobiographical memories (storage), but also active selection, retrieval, and representation of such memories (process). This dependence further contributes to the commercialization and industrialization of memory.