Paper short abstract:

The presentation focuses on the question how an internet portal and Facebook are used to alter the image of a post-socialist city district. The focus is laid on the cultural aspects of image creation.

Paper long abstract:

Social media offers new possibilities for forming communities and encouraging new joint initiatives. The presentation views it by the example of the internet portal of Annelinn, the largest city district of Tartu.

Unlike other districts of the city of Tartu, the population of Annelinn has not gathered into a society or another joint activity. This is due to two reasons, at least: Annelinn is a relatively new urban district (founded in the 1970s—80s); and socially, its population is highly non-homogeneous. In 2014, there was a significant resurgence of public interest in Annelinn, driven by the landscape architecture master's thesis by Ave Kongo 'Out between blocks. How to provoke urban and community activism in post-socialist large-scale residential areas? On the example of Annelinn in Tartu' (2013). In the autumn of 2014, a call for ideas "Public space and activity space in Annelinn" was organized and soon the internet portal was created. A network has emerged in Facebook based on the common share of followers of related topics and theme group members, linking those interested in Annelinn with other similar interest groups (e.g. "Nostalgiline Tartu", "Supilinn").

The question is: how is the image of Annelinn designed through an internet portal; what are the specifics of an image created in this manner, compared to the one manifest in personal memories (based on the collection of life histories of the Estonian Cultural History Archives) or the one revealed in the common activities of other city districts of Tartu.