War in Public Domain - October 7th in the Streets

From the events of October 7th and its consequences, many tasks traditionally managed by the state or public media shifted to civil society and grassroots initiatives. This shift is reflected, among others, in the phenomenon of stickers commemorating victims. In the project Walls7October.org, we capture a moment with its ephemeral nature using best practices of knowledge representation and digital humanities. Our project involves an extensive and growing collection of more than 10,000 photographs of commemorative stickers from across Israel, gathered by us and the public. These stickers, found in various locations, serve as poignant memorials, featuring victims’ names, quotes ascribed to or reflecting the victims, photos or illustrations, military or national symbols, and QR codes linking to Instagram or remembrance web pages. To ensure comprehensive documentation, we use geocoding and timestamp data to provide spatial and temporal context for each photograph and meticulously transcribe and describe the content. These details are linked to authority files containing biographical information about the victims, including their whereabouts during the attack. Additionally, specific locations related to the attack, such as ‘Nova Festival’ and ‘Road 234: Re’im - Urim, ’ are included in a dataset of linked data about Israeli human settlements. The culmination of this effort is presented using best practices in Digital Humanities for data representation. The enriched, linked data is showcased on Omeka-S, a platform that facilitates the organization and public sharing of these vital records. People can add comments and photos, or download the data of the stickers and the people. This project not only memorializes victims but also provides a structured and accessible digital archive for future research and remembrance activities, preserving and documenting a dynamic and spontaneous societal phenomenon during days of war.