The promises of digital keepsakes

Turning our digital experiences into something both tangible and enduring might be one of AI's most significant challenges.

Welcome to the new subscribers. I’m on my way back from Geneva and a surprising object is back in the game: keepsakes. If you like this newsletter: share!

During the Romantic era, keepsakes were albums of fine engravings, often given as gifts, that sealed an emotion or celebrated a special occasion. This word, which combines to keep (to keep, preserve) and sake (a mark of friendship or consideration), takes on a particular resonance in our digital culture. At its core, it holds tensions related to our contemporary uses: between the ephemeral and the permanent, the intimate and the collective, the tangible and the virtual. Digital keepsakes will ultimately become precious goods, consecrating our digital liveness.

The Keepsake: Freezing the Moment and Preserving Its Trace

The keepsake borrows something from the almanac: it consecrates an event, materializes a memory, and becomes a pivotal object around which memory and emotions revolve.

In the theater, for example, it was not uncommon to buy a keepsake at the end of a performance. These booklets, more elaborate than today’s programs, highlighted the actors, the scenery, and the secrets of the staging. Although programs have lost some of their sophistication, they retain significant symbolic value: both a souvenir to offer or keep for oneself, and a way to support the troupe. In schools or fraternities, keepsakes served as collections of well-chosen texts to celebrate the past year.

Online, keepsakes are reinvented and proliferate in various forms, often through curation and personalization, reflecting our passions and identities.

The Explosion of Digital Keepsakes

On Etsy, customized Spotify plaques are exploding. They can be scanned and redirect to a song or playlist.

In the gaming world, Minecraft players can now 3D print their characters or creations using dedicated tutorials, even transforming them into unique chess sets. These examples show how a true keepsake economy is emerging organically, extending well beyond traditional fan communities.

Towards Digital Sentiment Jewelry?

One of the most intriguing promises is that of Friend, an AI-based companion in the form of a pendant, which constantly listens to the user and interacts with them. This object, which monitors the user continuously and interacts with them, makes tangible what was previously ephemeral: a conversation, a reaction, a kind word.

By capturing these fleeting moments, Friend could invite us to rethink access to and archiving of our memories. Such a keepsake, halfway between sentimental jewelry and technological accessory, could become an obvious companion in our humanity, much like a precious watch or medallion. But it also raises fundamental questions: the privacy of our exchanges, of course, but especially our ability to accept and interpret these captured memories. Because by narrating our memories, this type of object risks creating a narrative that may not be neutral, forcing us to come to terms with relative and fragmented truths.

Second-Hand Memories?

Keepsakes—like luxury watches or rare books—are already finding their place in the second-hand market, attracting collectors and enthusiasts of contemporary relics. In the future, digital keepsakes could also acquire invaluable worth. Imagine, for example, a Friend pendant worn by a major celebrity or a groundbreaking scientist. This small object, a direct witness to conversations, thoughts, or life moments, could become a precious relic, a fragment of personal history with collective significance.

The value of these memorial objects lies not only in their material nature but in what they encapsulate: a thought in the making, iterations of ideas, or even raw emotions. After all, archives of thinkers, writers, or inventors are already mobilizing thousands of researchers. Delving into drafts, sketches, or correspondence allows one to deconstruct the intellectual journey of a work or innovation. Current innovations often build on past discoveries, and this reinterpretation of intellectual processes is at the heart of many advancements.

Teaching students to dissect and analyze the development of thought is to give them the keys to understand how an idea forms, transforms, and evolves. From this perspective, digital keepsakes could become an extraordinary source of wealth. They not only offer an intimate view of the evolution of a thought or project but also a new way of understanding and transmitting the intellectual and emotional legacy of an individual. We are far from the planned obsolescence of digital tools.

The Figure of the Week: 1 Billion Hours

According to YouTube, platform users have surpassed one billion hours of streaming per day on their connected TVs.

Amazing links

• How social is shaping the future of music videos (Creative Review)

• The elite capture of Substack (Cydney Hayes)

• The impact of news-influencers on politics (Episodiques)

Have a great week! This newsletter is written with love, passion, and (French) coffee.

Feel free to share this newsletter, like, comment, or keep sending me emails: these notifications are a joy.

My book “Alive In Social Media” is available on Amazon.