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Title:

Posts Mortem: Death and Digital Legacy

Your vote:
Yes No
Organizer:
Adele McAlear, McAlear Marketing
Description:
If you passed away today, how would your online friends find out? Should logins and passwords be in your will? Has technology changed mourning? Will your digital media stay online forever? Our lives are lived and documented online, it’s time to talk about the implications of death and digital legacy.
Questions
Answered:
  1. If you passed away, how would your online friends be notified?
  2. Should logins and passwords be included in your will?
  3. Would you want your digital presence to remain online forever?
  4. What the policies of the major social networks for profile access by the family of the deceased?
  5. What are the repercussions of the phenomenon of the suicide note as Facebook status?
  6. How has the Iinternet changed how people come together to mourn?
  7. Will pre-programmed updates from friends who have passed give them digital immortality?
  8. How have recent celebrity deaths brought digital mourning to the mainstream?
  9. If digital profiles truly have inherent value and equity, can they be bequeathed?
  10. What societal shifts will be required to handle ownership of our online footprints?
Level:
Beginner
Category:
Community / Online Community, Online Relationships, Other / Out There, Social Issues, User Generated Content
Type:
Panel
Event:
Interactive 2010
Connie Crosby
on 17/8/09
A topic we don't pay enough attention to--thanks to Adele for raising the issue!
Adele McAlear
on 17/8/09
Thanks Connie, I appreciate your support!
Shirley Williams
on 17/8/09
We have looked at Digital Identity and Death as part of our This is Me project. We have an exercise in our (free) work book http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/this-is-me-(bw)/6797282
Some of our workshop participants found the exercise distressing, and these were not necessarily the recently bereaved.
So I agree it is a topic worthy of discussion but be prepared for some upset.

Shirley
Adele McAlear
on 17/8/09
Thank you Shirley for your comments, link and caveat. I agree that this is a very sensitive subject and needs to be handled with respect. People all process death in different ways. If this panel is selected, I hope that those who attend will listen with an open mind and offer their own perspectives so that we can all learn from this.
Mack Collier
on 17/8/09
Very interesting topic choice and I agree with Connie, we need more coverage of this timely issue.
Evan Carroll
on 17/8/09
Adele, You're bringing up an excellent topic. The digital afterlife is becoming a more important issue everyday and will continue to do so as the Internet grows older.

My colleague led a successful (and passionate) Core Conversation on just this topic at SXSW 2009 called "Who Will Check My Email After I Die?" You should check out his proposal for 2010: Become Immortal: Understanding the Digital Afterlife at http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3854
Jon Swanson
on 17/8/09
this is very necessary, Adele. There are legal and emotional and social and spiritual issues that are so intertwined that perhaps this panel is about developing a structure for addressing the conversation more than actually having the conversation.

For example, are passwords property that can be bequeathed is a legal question that is tied up with existing TOS. Identifying what is actually in place would be a great help and would bring some calmness to that part of the discussion.

On the other hand, the mourning questions are all wrapped up with how humans do and ought to grieve...which is complicated enough without new modes of communication. Anger is tough enough face to face; make it hugely public and it can be even more devastating.

This is so much more than a panel. Be meta about it.
Adele McAlear
on 18/8/09
Evan - Thank you so much for alerting me to your colleague's past and present SXSW sessions. I will definitely seek him out.

Jon - Thank you for bringing your unique and considered perspective as a social media pastor to this topic.
Adele McAlear
on 18/8/09
And Mack - thank you for your encouragement to do this panel. Your support is always appreciated.
Jim Storer
on 18/8/09
very interesting topic... thumbs up!
ralph mercer
on 18/8/09
you got my thumbs up, good luck
John Romano
on 20/8/09
Your topic is similar to ours ( http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3854 ) and an important one as online identities become more robust and important to people. We need to look at the social, technical, archival and legal aspects of this new area of study.

We are trying to explain this topic in basic terms. Let us know what you think!
http://www.thedigitalbeyond.com/2009/08/the-digital-beyond-an-introduction/

Good luck!
Andrea Baker
on 20/8/09
I am interested in attending this one because I have thought about my digital afterlife since I am so much online and transparent. I think a sudden absence of message from me would alarm friends. I know when I have taken hiatuses before it has caused concern.
Robert Stewart
on 28/8/09
I'm thrilled to see yet another leader in this emerging space. I look forward to engaging in the dialogue and continuing to address this very market with innovative solutions. Keep up the charge! Best to you and ours, -Bob Stewart Founder, VitalLock.com
Nathan Wright
on 31/8/09
Great idea for a panel, not sure if I've seen anything like it before. I'd attend for sure, thumbs up.
Carla Borsoi
on 3/9/09
This is a great topic I've seen spring up in conversations here and there. I made a pact with a friend years ago to go through and delete my online presence from all sites if I died. The thing is, there's content I have no control over (other's photos, blog posts written for work, etc.) that will live on. Interesting too, there's a couple Facebook friends who have passed away and their profile is still there. Makes me wonder what they should have told their families.
Ed Illig
on 3/9/09
A topic at once passing fancy and serious business. And keen questions that run that gamut as well, Adele. You've got my vote.
andre killens
on 3/9/09
gooof
Phillip Zannini
on 3/9/09
This is a GREAT topic for discussion. I've been wondering about this (should anything happen at my advanced age ;-)) and how my wife would find all this information that has essentially been used as a modern day journal for my life. Looking forward to the discussion.
Donna Mugavero
on 3/9/09
Adele, this is such a fascinating, poignant and incredibly relevant topic. Best of luck with your endeavor! Oh- and of course I voted UP!
Mark Goren
on 4/9/09
Apologies in advance for the corny pun, but Adele will absolutely kill on this topic!
Faith Dow
on 4/9/09
Well this certainly isn't one I expected and it's quite original.

Since voting has been extended to Monday please stop by my page:
Black Female Bloggers & the Future of Media and ***VOTE****

http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3198

Thanks!
tim smith
on 6/9/09
Is this a "death panel" like they warned me about!!??

Are you going to PULL THE PLUG on GRANDMA!?!?
Sam Beal
on 8/9/09
passwords are interesting leave-behinds, but what happens to your memories when you die? If they are still in your head, then the answer is "poof".

sam
Free Games
on 2/11/09
That is a supreme panel you got there!!
blu ray ripper
on 13/11/09
So looking forward to this..
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