The many lives of WeChat: curating histories of the web in museum environments

The chapter considers the role of museum in preserving histories of the Web, reflecting on how museum practice can provide insights relevant to wider efforts in Web archiving and historiography. Drawing from findings of the AHRC-funded Circuits of Practice project, it discusses the case of V&A’s acquisition of social media platform WeChat through a theoretical perspective that is sensitive to the multiple dimensions or “lives” of the Web and of digital objects in general. The practices and strategies that museums activate to preserve and exhibit elements of the Web provide crucial insights for empowering not only ongoing efforts of museums to curate software Web-based content, but also wider approaches to Web historiography and archiving.