Death and the Internet: digital legacies

Dr Craig Bellamy, DHA2016

Hobart, June 2016

Key issues

A. Online memorials

B. Property and privacy

C. Personal digital archives

Online memorials

Social media & memorialisation

• When a user passes away, their account is “memorialised”

• Only confirmed “friends” can see the timeline• “friends” can leave posts in remembrance• Also prevents anyone from logging into the account

B: Privacy and Property

1. What do I actually own?2. Should I delete it?3. Or should I give It away?

Music

Music

Images

Images

YouTube

eBooks

email

You agree that your Yahoo! account is non-transferable and any rights to your Yahoo! ID or contents within your account terminate upon your death

Mobile accounts and texts

C: Personal Digital Archives

1. How do I manage my legacy?2. What services are available?3. Can it be repurposed?

Download!

Facebook (can download almost everything) Twitter (can download entire twitter archive) YouTube (can download everything in original

format) Google Takeout

Google Takeout

Google inactive account manager (or ‘death manager’)

Time period (6-12 months) Notify contacts and share data (up to 10

people) Delete everything!

Personal digital archives

Repurposing content ‘New tools to support repurposing content should be

considered Technology Heirlooms’ - memories of loved ones cherished

through uses of technology (Kirk & Banks 2008)

Kirk, D. and Banks, R. 2008. On the Design of Technology Heirlooms. International Workshop on Social Interaction and Mundane Technologies (SIMTech’08).

Digital Register

Creating a digital register

http://www.digitalheritage.net.au/planning/

Pending issues There are significant inconsistencies and

ad-hoc arrangements on institutions deal with death and the internet

The importance of creating personal digital archives is not well established in the popular imagination (nor products for re-purposing content)

Protocols and practices of bequeathing digital assets (ie. digital wills) not well established