ABSTRACT
This chapter surveys a unique moment of digital commemoration, examining how connectivity, participation and agency were essential to its character. It considers how digital commemoration reflects both enduring tropes in the practices surrounding Anzac Day, and the beginnings of new, disruptive or creative elements within it. The chapter also considers the interweaving of individual, social and civil identities in newly created online ecologies. Most Australians' experiences of Anzac Day 2015 were shaped, mediated or communicated through the digital realm. Two key forces have influenced the rise of digital commemorative activity: the memory boom and the hyperconnectivity of the digital realm. The digital experience of Anzac Day 2015 suggests a convergence of the second memory boom, as described by Winter, with the emergence of a third boom, as identified by Hoskins, whereby the digital media used to report current wars is utilised in existing memorial cultures.
