International Journal of Communication 7 (2013), 2207-2230 1932–8036/20130005 Copyright © 2013 (Aaron Hess & Art Herbig). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non- commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at http://ijoc.org. Recalling the Ghosts of 9/11: Convergent Memorializing at the Opening of the National 9/11 Memorial AARON HESS Arizona State University ART HERBIG Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne This study examines the physical and digital existence of the National 9/11 Memorial located at Ground Zero in New York City as it stood on September 12, 2011. Through a rhetorical analysis of the interplay between the physical memorial and its digital smartphone applications (apps), we argue that the digital apps create a contradictory, paradoxical experience of the physical memorial. Whereas the memorial invites public reflection moving toward a sense of renewal, the digital apps privatize the experience through archives of information and images that suspend the events of 9/11 as a perpetual trauma. Such convergent technologies challenge the memorializing process, providing information in place of imagination. The World Trade Center Memorial began with the first flyers of lost loved ones, with the first candlelight vigils at Union Square, with the first candles lit in the doorways of families who had lost someone. It continued with the devastating pile of debris and search and rescue operations. It continued further with the cleanup and salvaging operations, the reconstruction of the site, the void at the heart of Ground Zero. It continued through the highly public arbitration of a new site design and through the public process of the memorial competition. And it hasn’t ended yet. (James E. Young, 2006, p. 214) September 11, 2011, was not only the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania. It also marked the opening of the official National September 11 Memorial in the area of Lower Manhattan now known as “Ground Zero.” Since 9/11, Ground Zero has served as the enduring symbolic place of the tragic events of that fateful Tuesday morning. Michael Arad and Peter Walker’s Reflecting Absence opened to the public on September 12, 2011, on the site where the Twin Towers once stood. Eventually, this installation will be at the center of a much larger complex including a museum dedicated to 9/11, a transportation hub for the business district, and a 1,776-foot skyscraper known as One World Trade Center. The 9/11 memorial, nestled in the “footprints” of two of the most famous fallen buildings in history, is also surrounded by a very active construction site. Meanwhile, the memorial exists in the era of convergence culture (Jenkins, 2006), which often integrates digital Aaron Hess: aaron.r.hess@gmail.com Art Herbig: herbiga@ipfw.edu Date submitted: 2012–07–12