Emotion is a word certainly linked to the very idea of archive. However, the term archive may refer to many types of data aggregations. They range from archives that we could define as "conventional" to so-called invented archives, with a series of intermediate shades. Each archive has always been an interpretative selection made by those who produce or preserve it but the invented archives, like many other digital montages, emphasize the subjectivity of sedimentation.

This contribution aims to focus precisely on invented archives, understood as aggregations of digital documents on a thematic basis, released from their creators and almost always generated in support of a point of view on certain events or certain themes.

A classic example of these "archives" is The September 11 digital archive (https://911digitalarchive.org/. Very recently it was then built Russia’s war crime (https://war.ukraine.ua/russia-war-crimes/).

These digital constructions are meant to arouse emotions and they have a strong impact on users. They are based on a documentary construction with an epic and celebratory slant, aimed at guiding the feelings of users towards the principles or objectives of those who generate the aggregation. They generally appear on the web as digital archives. They therefore seem potentially reliable resources for the reconstruction of the historical facts to which they refer. The emotions thus aroused may not, however, be filtered by adequate contextualizations. 

The proposed intervention aims first of all to evaluate the nature of these aggregations, characterized by a multiplicity of documentary types (texts, images, videos, emails, messages ...). The second objective will be to highlight the emotional impact in terms of building a consensus. Finally, we will evaluate the interpretative models that guarantee a conscious use of the large amount of data that the invented archives retain.

Federico Valacchi is full professor of archival science and digital archiving. Trained in the traditional archival discipline, he aimed at bringing together the traditional archival concepts with technology and informatics. His main areas of research are technology applied to archives, web archiving, and preservation issues for electronic records. Recently, he also delved into the political and social role of archives and archival science (Archivistica attiva and public archival science) and coordinates the related Facebook group. He is president of AIDUSA, coordinator of the journal J-LIS, and he published extensively on these topics.