Death Online Research Symposium (DORS4): The University of Hull, UK, August 15 – 17 2018

The 4th Symposium of the International Death Online Research Network will take place at The University of Hull, UK, August 15 – 17, 2018. It will consolidate links between existing and new network members and provide opportunities for the discussion of ongoing and new orientations in the interdisciplinary field of death online. The meeting will explore the ways in which online connectivity is changing how, when and where we engage with death and dying and how we invest death-related practices with meaning in the online environment. We warmly welcome new members to the network as well as old friends. 

Confirmed Keynote Addresses: 

Professor Charles Ess, University of Oslo, Norway 

Dr Elaine Kasket, psychologist and author of forthcoming book: 

All the Ghosts in the Machine 

Themes and perspectives of the symposium 

For this 4th Death Online Research Symposium we invite abstracts for oral presentations of new, recently completed, or ongoing research or ideas for future academic research on all kinds of death related online practices. We welcome qualitative and quantitative work which expands our understanding of the current and future trends in death online research from a variety of disciplines, addressing any of the following themes: 

Digitally mediated dying and narrative 

Digitally mediated grieving and memorialising 

Death online and embodied experience 

Digital afterlife, post-mortem identity and digital legacy 

Technological developments in the death care industry 

Digital immortality 

Online vs offline experiences 

Theorising online life and death 

Ethical challenges for studying death online. 

The conference will host a special workshop for participating Post Graduate students and early career researchers. We particularly welcome submissions from these groups. All submissions will be peer-reviewed, and we envisage publication of selected full papers in a special issue of an academic journal in the field as well as a collection of writing from the symposium in an open-access online platform. 

Important information 

Submission format: 300 word abstract 

Submission deadline: March 15th, 2018 

Submission feedback: April 15th, 2018 

Registration open: May 1st, 2018 

Registration fee: £125 (£75 students). This will cover morning and afternoon refreshments and lunch for the 3 days and conference dinner on day 2. 

All submissions and enquiries should be submitted to Dr Jo Bell: j.bell@hull.ac.uk marked “Death Online Research Symposium Submission” in the subject field. Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words. Please include full contact info (name/s, institutional / organisational affiliation and email address) in the submission. Submissions will be anonymised before review. 

The online registration and payment site will be open from 1st May 2018. There will also be information available here for booking options for accommodation. You can stay on The University of Hull campus at The Courtyard for £50 per night (including breakfast) or £45 per night (excluding breakfast). We will make cheaper options such as ‘air b & b’ available where possible. 

If you are interested in joining the Death Online Research Network, please contact Dr Stine Gotved: gotved@itu.dk. 

An Insight into Digital Death Day London!

Digital Death Day 2012 was an exciting collision of people from different backgrounds, with vastly different experiences and perspectives on the concept of death and digitality. 

We started the day by setting the agenda (translation: writing in that moment what we felt like discussing with the various experts/ interesting people that were in attendance). As a PhD student/academic I am currently putting together a chapter on the relationship between the physical body and technology, including what happens to this relationship when a person dies, so my session was called: Embodiment, Authenticity and Technology (this title was also inspired by Sherry Turkle's recent book: Alone Together). Whereas Andriana (my fellow co-organizer) being an entrepreneur and designer wanted to conduct her session as a kind of mini-focus group discussing various aspects of Announcing Death and Mourning Online as she is in the process of developing a platform which would aid people in this process (further notes/ audio of sessions will appear shortly on www.digitaldeathday.com). 

Photography by: Vered (Rose) Shavit: http://digital-era-death-eng.blogspot.co.il

 

Myself and Andriana getting excited about our our discussion topics!

Photography by: Vered (Rose) Shavit: http://digital-era-death-eng.blogspot.co.il

As a side note: Digital Death and privacy seem to go hand in hand as a main concern of this community. I don't think we have ever had a Digital Death Day where this was not a central theme and it certainly gets discussed as a part of other sessions as well. There are mounting concerns regarding what will happen to our data after we die including the lagging legal framework, the conflicting terms and conditions of major players in the industry and the lack of education for young people in relation to understanding what it means to post something (public) online. 

Photography by: Vered (Rose) Shavit: http://digital-era-death-eng.blogspot.co.il

After some coffee and breakfasty stuff its time to construct the agenda by placing the sessions we want to run on the wall and designating a time and place where that conversation will take place. This is also when the four guidelines of unconferencing make their appearance (the below were very well phrased by The Usual Suspects so I borrowed and adjusted their explanations):

1. Whoever shows up is the right people… reminds participants that they don’t need “world-famous death expert guru X” and 100 people to learn something, or to have an interesting time. What we do need are people who care (world-famous or not :) )
2. Whenever it starts is the right time …reminds participants that “spirit and creativity do not run on the clock.”.
3. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have …reminds participants that once something has happened, it’s done. Spontaneity and ‘going with the flow’ are important, and this is one of the guidelines which creates a space in which unexpected things can happen.
4. When it’s over, it’s over …reminds participants that we never know how long it will take to dive into a topic, once raised, but that whenever the discussion or work or conversation is finished, move on to the next thing.

Photography by: Vered (Rose) Shavit: http://digital-era-death-eng.blogspot.co.il

So with these guidelines in mind and a relaxed attitude we begin our conversation about Annoucing Death and Mourning Online: How to strike a Personal/ useful balance, in the comfy chair space ;-)

Photography by: Vered (Rose) Shavit: http://digital-era-death-eng.blogspot.co.il

As a second side note: we also had BBC Radio 4 there during the day conducting interviews for the final part of 'The Digital Human' series, presented by Aleks Krotofski, which will focus particularly on the topic of Digital Death. 

  

Photography by: Vered (Rose) Shavit: http://digital-era-death-eng.blogspot.co.il

As the day progressed and we felt ourselves losing energy Kaliya (identitywoman) started a doodling session to run alongside our conversation about how terminally ill patients engage with the idea of what happens to their data after they die and how the hospices and old age homes deal with (or don't deal with as the case may be) internet access and patients blogging. 

Photography by: Vered (Rose) Shavit: http://digital-era-death-eng.blogspot.co.il

The day ended with pages of notes and colors, some new ideas, collaborations, contacts and lots to think about and process. Unconferencing is definitely my favorite form of work gathering, as it is really a working event that feel like a social event, made up of people talking about the things they are interested in and passionate about. 

As I was told on my first attendance of an unconference in San Fransisco (the Internet Identity Workshop): the most useful things that happen at a conference do not usually occur while listening to people present their papers. They are generally the strange conversations and serendipitous encounters that happen during the coffee breaks, the lunch and the after party. So we decided to create an event that was like one long coffee break!

Happy Unconferencing!  

Digital Death Day: London 6th October 2012

Digital Death Day is a series of Unconferences which have been running twice annually since May 2010 in Europe and North America. We are very excited to be bringing this event once again to London! In the past this event has received high profile international press (such as http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8691238.stm and http://obit-mag.com/articles/life-after-death-in-digital-form). 

Digital Death is the term used to describe the growing issue of what happens to your personas, ideas, feelings and accounts online after you die. This workshop is open to professionals and amateurs alike. Anyone who wants to learn, discuss, ask questions or even display a working product.

Like death in the real world, Digital Death promises to be ever-present in our increasingly digital world. Despite the topics relative newness this is an issue which has already touched the lives of many people who understand its relevance, whether they themselves have experienced loss or whether it is simply through observing the multiple online tributes, RIPstatus's and memorial sites. However systems are slow to change and the companies that house our data often need the pressure of their users demands to alter current practices. We invite you to be part of that change!  

To register for Digital Death Day please visit: eventbrite

HERITAGE AND SOCIAL MEDIA: UNDERSTANDING HERITAGE IN A PARTICIPATORY CULTURE

Finally it is here, the long awaited for book on the emergent field of Digital Heritage. Edited by the ever so talented Elisa Giaccardi.

This book explores how social media is constantly reframing our understanding and experience of heritage. Through the idea of ‘participatory culture’ it begins to examine how social media can be brought to bear on the encounter with heritage and on the socially produced meanings and values that individuals and communities ascribe to it.

My contribution is to this book is the chapter Museums of the Self and Digital Death: An Emerging Curatorial Dilemma. 

Chapter Abstract: This chapter is primarily concerned with exploring the connection between digital legacy of data that people currently leave behind and how this data can begin to form a part of our collective “digital heritage”. By reviewing current practices around online data storage in relation to memory and death, the chapter considers the value of ‘digital memory objects’ for the growing field of digital heritage. It also discusses the significance and implications of designing new contexts and systems for the future management of personal legacy data. By using the transformative properties of the ‘digital memory object’ itself, the chapter presents various strategies concerning how this data could be both (re)used and (re)evaluated, making it a useful asset in our contemporary collective; for both history and heritage.

Heritage and Social Media can be bought directly from the publisher at: www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415616676/ or ordered from Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/Heritage-Social-Media-Understanding-participatory/dp/0415616670

MyLifeBits meets Harry Potter - Our digital memories will remain forever!

Recently I have been looking at the multitude of implications when storing ones memory in a digital format. I have chosen to include the image of Dumbledore storing his own memories in an external pool (pensive) because I think there is an interesting parallel to be made. It always amazes me how something like the idea of a pensive, so grounded in fiction and magic can now, not only be a possibility but a reality! One can now store their memories in an external pool (computer) and even invite other people to share in some of their experiences. These 'bits' of memories, stored in their 'pools,' are shielded from the danger of natural decay in the physical world (and the human condition of forgetting.)



Microsoft's 'MyLifeBits' is probably the most complete example of a life recorded online.

" Gordon Bell has captured a lifetime's worth of articles, books, cards, CDs, letters, memos, papers, photos, pictures, presentations, home movies, videotaped lectures, and voice recordings... [in his digital pool]. He is now paperless, and is beginning to capture phone calls, IM transcripts, television, and radio. "

(http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/mylifebits/)

However my question, as always, is what is to be done with all this information once we have spent our lives accumulating it. How do we begin to edit down a lifetime's worth of information, making it relevant to both our loved ones and society? I begin to question, is this frantic gathering and saving of information a reflection on our culture's in-ability to deal with loss and mortality? Is 'digital memory,' simply a modern search for the fabled philosopher's stone (immortality) and if our information does get passed down as 'digital remains' then have we in some way achieved this goal? Nowadays we tend to keep information simply for the sake of keeping it (because we can) or because we are afraid of losing something we might need? I question whether this really is a good enough reason for it's existence?

The EXbox - a place of rest for that special someone!

The image below shows a snapshot of a persons life. This person is a friend of mine. This friend, like most people, has been through a break-up. The couple in question no longer see or talk to each other.


Fig1: Placing the disk into a safe, out of sight, out of mind

They are both trying to move on but the digital world persists. Hidden among the countless documents, movies, music and other digital data are memory triggers. On this particular day it was too much, so this friend called and presented me with her problem:

"Whenever I look on my computer I can't help but stumble upon pictures of my ex, I don't want to get rid of them but I just can't look at them anymore."

Which immediately led me to see a simple solution. I told her to delete all the images of her ex from her computer and put them instead on a disk and put the disk somewhere safe and out of sight.



Through this simple example I have begun to see the impact of having a chaotic but perfect digital memory. It has made me see the data within my computer as complex 'bits' of information which inevitably link me to the memories, events and documents of my life.

This is a simple example, as it is something that most people can relate to (losing a relationship). However the example becomes much more complex when one considers how to deal with the information of someone who has died. When losing a loved one you may not want to 'put them away in a box.' I have begun to think about potential, physical and digital, resting places which would allow you the space to grieve but also the opportunity to (in time) celebrate a loved ones information (memories).

I have been asked kill your computer.

When a person dies, what happens to their personal computer?

A conversation with a Funeral Director led me to think about this in more detail, the funeral director told me the story of a man who knew he was going to die and had begun to make arrangements for his funeral. One of the things he was most adamant about was the destruction of his computer (hard disk.) He said there was information on there that could potentially hurt his family and friend and therefore he wanted it gone.


This led me to question of there parts of a hard disk that one would ant to 'die' with them and if in opposition the example they were unaware of their death who would take on the burden of this 'killing'?

If a person were to ask us to end the life of their information at the same time as they themselves ended, how would we go about it..? What would be the most appropriate ritual for the destruction of information? Is there something spiritual and personal about using a sword? Would using a syringe be considered more legal, as it is considered to be sterile and medicinal? What roles do you begin to take up when you use these objects and how would it leave you feeling, to be responsible for 'killing' someone's information?


I also wanted to think about the life span and mortality of a person's personal computer, I wanted to engage with the fact that within the digital world we find it so hard to get rid of (or lose) information. We are all digital hoarders, to an extent, and we can be as there appears to be an endless amount of space to store stuff. In the physical world it is both expensive and uncomfortable to never throw out a possession, so one has to select items carefully and only keep what is really important. However in the digital world, we are always finding new ways of 'saving' and 'retrieving' information. We do not spend enough time considering why we actually need this amount of information. As human beings having a 'perfect memory' is unnatural, therefore perhaps we could consider the loss of digital information to be a natural 'culling'.

How could a designer begin to create structures which would force people to lose digital information that was no longer important to them?

An external collection of good and bad memories...

We are constantly remodeling our conceived futures,
ever get the feeling your being manipulated by your past?

Segmentation of a Digital Identity...

An experiment was undertook in which four elements of a person's digital self (a random selection of facebook photos, their avatar, their inbox and their desktop) were segmented and given to four separate groups to analyze and discover all they could about who "this person is..."

The resulted yielded were interesting:

Those with the facebook photos 'discovered' that this person is a young, female (possibly Goldsmiths student) who is full time, as she attends a lot of parties. She is possibly a design student as she attended the Design Xmas Ball at the Rivoli Ballroom. She is trendy and likes East London as she is wearing Tatty Divine.
(source = information rich)

Those with the avatar screen shots 'discovered' that this person is a teenage boy, possibly around 14, as the woman (avatar) depicted in the screen shots is an idealized version of a woman. She has very large unnatural breasts and is often wearing little clothing.
(source = information poor)

Those with the inbox 'discovered' that this person is a middle aged man, as he receives many e-mails from companies regarding business opportunities and time saving strategies. This man has very few friends as there is only one message from a friend in his inbox.
(source = information poor)

Those with the desktop 'discovered' that this person is a young female designer (as she has a mac desktop with design programs: In Design, Illustrator and Photoshop.) She also has an interest in vintage prints as this is her desktop wallpaper, there are many icons displaying her interest in craft and tattoos. She is also thinking of starting a business, as business plans and strategies litter the desktop. She is also either a busy or un-tidy person as the icon have no order or structure.
(source = information rich)

The groups were all surprised when it was relieved that each of these sources were an element of the same person's digital persona. It makes one wonder how much we actually know about a person if we only know them in one context?

It also proves that if we are to begin using digital data as 'digital historical artifacts' we must consider how reliable each source is and how many sources we must evaluate to get valid results.

Can the digital self be split or must it be kept whole as this is what gives it it's context??