Category: Death + the Web
Cemeteries Death + Architecture Death + Art / Architecture Death + Crime Death + Humor Death + Popular Culture Death + Technology Death + the Web Death Ethics Monuments + Memorials
2016's Most Memorable Death Articles and More
No Comments on 2016's Most Memorable Death Articles and More
2016 will very likely be remembered as the year of the Dead Celebrity. Prince was certainly a tough death for Death Ref.
And yet, a plethora of other articles and radio programmes on diverse death topics also appeared in 2016. This is not to belittle everything written about Dead Celebrities, but we here at the Death Reference Desk want to highlight some of the year's most compelling pieces on non-celebrity death, dying, and dead bodies.
Death Ref started running a year end feature last year. As with the 2015 list, many of the 2016 pieces came from the New York Times, which continues to produce really good essays and articles on human mortality.
Collecting the 2016 material was a bit more systematic than last year. Throughout 2016 articles were placed in a folder that was then reviewed. By today, December 31, 2016, there were over forty different items in that folder.
What follows below is a sampling of those essays, articles, and radio stories.
It was good to see so many articles in 2016 about the legacy of AIDS and the political movements that formed around the Epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s. A couple of pieces towards the bottom of the 2016 list highlighted this forgotten, but crucial history. Death Ref also recommends that everyone signs-up for the BBC Radio 4 We Need To Talk About Death podcast. The shows started at the end of 2016 and will continue into 2017. Finally, we were saddened to learn that our good friends at the Morbid Anatomy Museum closed its doors in December. Death Ref John was the MAM's Scholar in Residence in 2014 and you can read his essay about the Morbid Anatomy Museum here.
As with last year, that's it for 2016. The Death Reference Desk (Meg, Kim, and John) all look forward to 2017 and what will most certainly be an unpredictable year for death.
For Martin Luther King's Birthday, Black Leaders as Obituaries Portrayed Them
by Sam Roberts, New York Times (January 18, 2016)
To commemorate the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — he would have been 87 — in advance of Black History Month in February, The New York Times culled its historical obituary files for a retrospective on how he and other prominent black Americans were regarded at their deaths.
Death Predicts if People Vote for Donald Trump
by Jeff Guo, Washington Post (March 04, 2016)
It seems that Donald Trump performed the best in places where middle-aged whites are dying the fastest.
Why Slaves' Graves Matter
by Sandra Arnold, New York Times (April 02, 2016)
Those who lived through slavery were human beings, not abstractions.
When Your Mother's Death Is Kept Secret From You
by Alexa Tsoulis-Reay, Science of Us (May 25, 2016)
The reverberating effects of hiding the truth.
Alton Sterling and When Black Lives Stop Mattering
by Roxanne Gay, New York Times (July 06, 2016)
Tiny cameras allow us to bear witness to injustice. What does that change?
Solving All the Wrong Problems
by Allison Arieff, New York Times (July 09, 2016)
Do we really need an app that lets us brew our coffee from anywhere?
'Transfesto' Launches to Tackle Transgender Discrimination After Death
by Jenny Marc, The Independent (June 30, 2016)
In 2016 researchers and activists in London released a 'transfesto', calling for greater awareness of issues faced by transgender, non-binary and gender nonconforming people after they die. The manifesto calls on the funeral industry to develop more trans-friendly practices and for official death-related paperwork to be more trans-inclusive. It also outlines plans to make trans-specific legal information more easily accessible.
THIRD human foot found in Bath, England
by Amanda Cameron, Bath Chronicle (August 05, 2016)
Another human foot has been discovered in Bath….(NB: Death Ref John lives in Bath and can't get enough of these severed feet stories)
10 of the World's Most Iconic Cemeteries, Mausoleums, and Crematoriums
by Demie Kim, Artsy (August 09, 2016)
Though we may think of cemeteries as transporting us to the past to remember and honor our loved ones, they have historically been spaces of innovation and reinvention in art, architecture, and design.
Death & The Maidens: Why Women are Working with Death
by Sarah Troop, Death and the Maiden (August 15, 2016)
Death & the Maiden's co-founder, Sarah Troop, delves into the reasons underlying the current interest many women seem to have with death, and the rise of the Death Positive movement.
by Radiolab (August 21, 2016)
When people are dying and you can only save some, how do you choose? Maybe you save the youngest. Or the sickest. Maybe you even just put all the names in a hat and pick at random. Would your answer change if a sick person was standing right in front of you?
On Assisted Suicide, Going Beyond 'Do No Harm'
by Dr. Haider Javed Warraich, New York Times (November 04, 2016)
Fewer people experience a "natural death" anymore. Doctors should rethink their opposition to right-to-die laws.
LGBTQ Activist Cleve Jones: 'I'm Well Aware How Fragile Life Is'
Terry Gross radio interview on Fresh Air (November 29, 2016)
Jones became an activist after Harvey Milk's assassination, and he lost countless friends to the AIDS epidemic. He says, "There are some days when it is so painful that I really can barely function."
The Reinvention of Radical Protest: Life on the Frontline of the AIDS Epidemic
by David France, The Guardian Long Read (November 29, 2016)
As reports of a mysterious plague swept through the gay community in the 1980s, activists developed shock tactics to get the support they desperately needed.
America Is Failing the Bad-Break Test and People Are Dying
by Jesse Singal, Science of Us (December 09, 2016)
The United States likes to view itself as a singular force of prosperity and opportunity, but by many public-health metrics — including infant mortality and preventable deaths and a variety of others — it doesn't look like a top-tier world power.
The Rooms they Left Behind
by Mitch Epstein, New York Times Magazine (December 21, 2016)
After the deaths of these 10 notable people, The New York Times photographed their private spaces — as they left them.
We Need to Talk About Death
with Joan Bakewell, BBC Radio 4 (Ongoing Series started in December 2016 — download the Podcasts)
Joan Bakewell and her panel discuss death and dying, exploring the choices open to us and confronting the questions we fear the most.
Tags 2015 Year in Death, 2016 Year in Death
Death + Popular Culture Death + Technology Death + the Web
SxSW 2016: Everybody Dies: What Is Your Digital Legacy? Friday, March 11 @ 5pm
5 Comments on SxSW 2016: Everybody Dies: What Is Your Digital Legacy? Friday, March 11 @ 5pm
Everybody Dies: What Is Your Digital Legacy?
SxSW 2016 Panel with Alethea Lange, Dr. John Troyer (from Death Ref!), Megan Yip, and Vanessa Callison-Burch
Friday, March 11, 2016 @ 5pm
Room 8ABC
Death Ref John will be at the South-by-Southwest 2016 Interactive conference on Friday, March 11 to discuss digital technology and legacy issues. He's speaking with a really dynamic group, all of whom represent different angles on the Death and Digital Technology world:
Alethea Lange (@AletheaLange)
Policy Analyst, Center for Democracy & Technology
Megan Yip (@MeganYip)
Lawyer, Law Office of Megan Yip
Vanessa Callison-Burch (@vcb)
Product Manager for Memorialisation, Facebook
And here's what they will all be discussing:
"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." Ben Franklin's quote has survived because he was a famous man in his time. But haven't you said some clever things in your time? Maybe even Tweeted them? Technology has democratized history–no longer are only the lives of the rich and famous carefully preserved, now most of us have exhaustive records of our lives in our emails, chats, social media posts, and digital photos. States across the country are updating their estate laws to reflect this new reality, but the right answers aren't obvious. Should your emails be passed along? Should your online presence die with you? How do you want to be remembered?
You can send the panel questions by using this hashtag: #techlegacy
Death and the Internet. It's kind of a big deal.
Tags digital assets, digital preservation, Facebook, social networking and death, SxSW, technology
Death + Popular Culture Death + the Web
Day 31: And on Day 31 of 31 Days of Death the Death Reference Desk Rests
No Comments on Day 31: And on Day 31 of 31 Days of Death the Death Reference Desk Rests
31 Days of Death
The Death Reference Desk
Today marks the final day of Death Ref's 31 Days of Death project.
The plan was to demonstrate that it's quite easy to write about, discuss, and point towards articles and information on death, dying, and the dead body — every day.
This is important since it challenges the always popular argument that death is a socially repressed and taboo topic.
The exact opposite is true. We 21st Century First World Humans talk about death every single day. We can't escape it.
And we've got 31 Days of Death postings to prove it.
One last plug for Death Ref John's August gig as the Morbid Anatomy Museum's Scholar in Residence. Click here for a full listing of what he's doing at the MAM.
Onwards.
Tags 31 Days of Death, death, Five Year Anniversary, Morbid Anatomy Museum
Death + Popular Culture Death + the Law Death + the Web
Day 20: Patrick Stewart Campaigns with Assisted Dying Supporters
No Comments on Day 20: Patrick Stewart Campaigns with Assisted Dying Supporters
Actor Patrick Stewart joins campaign for 'assisted dying'
BBC News (July 18, 2014)
Somehow, and I don't entirely know the reasons, I completely missed these interviews with actor Patrick Stewart on the recent House of Lords assisted dying debate.
He's got clearly articulated personal reasons for supporting Lord Falconer's bill and understands how the proposed legislation would work. I also give him credit for supporting a cause that I can imagine some talent agents might suggest you avoid.
That said, he's the kind of actor (and big name movie star) who doesn't flinch when it comes to supporting causes he believes in.
Good interviews to watch.
Tags 31 Days of Death, assisted dying, bioethics, death with dignity, Five Year Anniversary, physician-assisted suicide
Death + Technology Death + the Law Death + the Web
Day 19: Digital Death Bill Marches Onward
No Comments on Day 19: Digital Death Bill Marches Onward
Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act Approved
A new act approved today by a national law group provides comprehensive provisions governing access to digital assets. The Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (UFADAA) was approved by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) at its 123rd Annual Meeting in Seattle
Uniform Law Commission Press Release (July 16, 2014)
The Death Reference Desk has been so busy this week with all things assisted dying that we missed an important development in the digital death world.
Earlier this week, the Uniform Law Commission approved a new model law that allows access to digital assets, i.e., photos, documents, social media accounts, etc., by a person other than the original owner if an executor is named.
The ULC develops proposed legislation for potential use by all 50 US States. This particular bill is important for anyone thinking about who or whom will have access to your digital files, assets, properties, e-mails, photos, etc., after you die.
We've only got the press release to work from right now, which isn't ideal, but there will more to come about the ULC's approval.
The approved bill is summed up this way:
In the modern world, digital assets have largely replaced tangible ones. Documents are stored in electronic files rather than in file cabinets. Photographs are uploaded to web sites rather than printed on paper. However, the laws governing fiduciary access to these digital assets are in need of an update.
The Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act [UFADAA] solves the problem using the concept of "media neutrality." If a fiduciary would have access to a tangible asset, that fiduciary will also have access to a similar type of digital asset. UFADAA governs four common types of fiduciaries: personal representatives of a deceased person's estate; guardians or conservators of a protected person's estate; agents under a power of attorney; and trustees.
But don't worry, if you want to hide embarrassing e-mail messages or make sure that no one knows about your online shenanigans (we're not judging) then this proposed legislation covers those situations too.
Just remember: if you don't want the kids to know about it, then don't do it online.
You can read the bill here.
Unless, of course, we're all just living in a digital simulation.
Tags 31 Days of Death, digital assets, digital preservation, Five Year Anniversary
Day 7: Death by BuzzFeed Drowning
No Comments on Day 7: Death by BuzzFeed Drowning
794 Ways in Which BuzzFeed Reminds Us of Impending Death
The dark side of all those LOLs and fails, and how John Updike saw it coming all along.
Heather Havrilesky, The New York Times (July 03, 2014)
I don't click on the various quizzes and lists and general monkey-business that BuzzFeed produces. It's not my thing.
Heather Havrilesky's take on how BuzzFeed's content might actually remind people (or, at least, her) of death's inescapable touch is intriguing. The hook with John Updike and his Rabbit books makes her essay all the more eclectic for the New York Times.
I still won't click on any of Buzzfeed's listicles but at least now I find their impending death reminders more interesting.
Tags 31 Days of Death, death and advertising, Five Year Anniversary
Day 2: Only 5 Days Left to Help Andreia Start Her Death Studies Ph.D.
No Comments on Day 2: Only 5 Days Left to Help Andreia Start Her Death Studies Ph.D.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmlk74Iiqfg
I'm kicking off Day 2 of Death Ref's 31 Days of Death project with a fundraising appeal.
A really smart Brazilian journalist and Anthropologist named Andreia De Sousa Martins needs your help to start her Ph.D. on Virtual Wakes and Digital Death at the University of Bath's Centre for Death and Society.
I would be Andreia's Ph.D. Supervisor in Bath and I really want to work with her.
Here's the rub and hence the fundraising campaign: Andreia received a scholarship from the University of Bath but it doesn't cover everything. She needs to raise £8,000 (which is just under $14,000) in order to cover some University fees and, most importantly, afford her Visa to study in the UK.
As a non-UK citizen who works in England, I can tell you that Visas are extremely expensive to procure. I've spent thousands of both pounds and dollars over the years on Visas. And hours filling out forms.
Andreia isn't letting the need for additional funding dissuade her from starting her studies. Indeed, her resolve to begin the Ph.D. seems to only get stronger with each passing day.
One of the only ways Andreia has been able to raise the necessary funds is through a crowdfunding website called Student Funder. It's a legit company and I think her campaign is worth supporting.
Andreia has FIVE DAYS left to raise the £8,000. She's currently at £3,455.
So anyone and everyone– think about making a donation. It's a worthwhile cause. I will also make sure that Andreia periodically updates the Death Reference Deask on her studies.
If you click here you will go directly to Andreia's fundraising page.
I have also added in Andreia's own appeal for funding and a video of support that I created.
The future of Death Studies is now in your hands!
Andreia De Sousa Martins Death on the Internet: my PhD on Virtual Wakes
Hello and thanks for checking out my campaign!
My name is Andreia and I'm a 28 year old journalist and anthropologist from Brazil and since 2008 I have been studying the ways social networks and social media help us deal with death and dying. I have presented a research project and have been accepted for a PhD at the Social and Policy Sciences Department at the University of Bath. My research is about Virtual Wakes.
What is that?
A wake is a ritual where the family and friends of a deceased accompanies the body before it's buried or cremated. The virtual wake is a live broadcasting of that very moment, and was created so that the ones who could not attend the wake itself can be present with the helping of new communications technology. That moment can be shared with those who never knew the deceased, so my research will be a qualitative study of how the Virtual Wakes can help us deal with death and dying, deepening work I started in 2011.
I am deeply in love with my research area, which only continues to fascinate me every day. In addition, I desire to become a professor in the future and this PhD has been my priority since 2012. Death is a fascinating topic and I am extremely interested in learning how we have been dealing with it in different aspects and eras – and what ways we will come up with in the future.
In 2011 I was awarded a scholarship to complete my masters in Brazil and I have attended, chaired and coordinated sessions in several death-related academic conferences in Argentina, Romania, Austria, England, Chile and Brazil. My master's thesis was awarded with Praise and Distinction. Bath has awarded me a 75% discount scholarship on the tuition fees but, despite
this generous help, I am still lacking the final £8,000 to pay my fees and gain my visa.
That's why I have set up this StudentFunder campaign and ask sincerely for your kind support.
Please do take me up on the perks outlined to the right so I can show my appreciation to you, my supporters.
Tags 31 Days of Death, digital preservation, Five Year Anniversary, online memorials
Everything Oldish is New Again: Generation Y Re-discovers the World Wide Web of Death
No Comments on Everything Oldish is New Again: Generation Y Re-discovers the World Wide Web of Death
The Grim Reaper on the Web circa 1998
An Online Generation Redefines Mourning
Expressions of grief take on many public forms in the digital age.
By Hannah Seligson, New York Times (March 21, 2014)
It was inevitable, I suppose. At a certain point early 21st-century humans would begin doing things with computer technology that their long lost late 20th-century cousins did roughly twenty years earlier.
And lo, it has come to pass with death and the internet.
The New York Times has a Fashion & Style feature on how the kids are using the world wide web to discuss death, loss, the end-of-life, grieving, etc.
Three observations:
Anytime the Grey Lady describes something as fashionable then it's almost certainly dead. Irony of ironies, given the article's subject.
Death Ref's good friend Caitlin Doughty from Ask a Mortician and the Order of the Good Death is quoted in the article and that's always good to see.
Using the internet, the web, computers, digital technology, communication technology writ large to discuss death, loss, the end-of-life, grieving, etc. is not new. Indeed, humans have been using the interweb to discuss death since the early days of html and Netscape.
…Dramatic Pause…
We need to go back in time now, to a long-forgotten-about age when people still said Information Superhighway without irony or smirking. That's right, we're headed back to the mid-1990s.
As soon as the 'web' became a viable entity, largely because of the browsers Mosaic and then Netscape, individual users began creating websites about death.
It is also important to point out that everything happening in the late 20th-century also built on technology used during the 19th-century (e.g., telegraph communication, photography, rail transport, etc.) but I'll stick with the 1990's for now.
In 1996, a television show called the Internet Cafe began a run on American Public Television. The programme was later re-named the Net Cafe and it lasted until 2002. Think of it as the paleo-YouTube.
Two years into the Internet Cafe's existence, on June 26, 1998 (historical aside: Bill Clinton wouldn't be impeached until December 19, 1998 but most television footage was about the Starr Report), it aired a programme called Grim Reaper Web Sites.
As the title suggests, the entire show examines how people are using the world wide web to discuss a long list of death topics and issues. My particular favourite is the guy who creates a memorial website for Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia.
The moral of our time-traveling tale is this: We humans began using the internet and web as soon as we could to discuss death. Why? Because that's what we do with all communication technology. The technology will always change but death itself remains predictably guaranteed and discussed.
But don't take my word for it, you can WATCH this episode of the Internet Cafe because of the always wonderful Internet Archive.
Here is a direct link to the Grim Reaper programme.
I also embedded the show at the bottom of the page.
The 1990's live dude.
And if you're interested in the history (both old and new) of death and technology then check out Death Ref's Death + Technology page.
I'll be giving a talk on these death technology issues (and other things) at the upcoming UK Death Salon.
One final point. In another twenty or thirty years I firmly believe that an intrepid reporter for the New York Times will write an article about whatever technology exists at that time (our computer overlords, most likely) and how the kids are using it to discuss death.
The rest will be silence.
Tags digital archiving, Facebook, Internet Archive, selfies at funerals, twitter
Death + Biology Death + Technology Death + the Web
Radiolab: Am I Going To Die This Year? A Mathematical Puzzle
No Comments on Radiolab: Am I Going To Die This Year? A Mathematical Puzzle
Am I Going To Die This Year? A Mathematical Puzzle
Robert Krulwich, Radiolab (January 08, 2014)
Radiolab co-host, Robert Krulwich, posted a fascinating piece on a mathematical approach to determining when a person might die. Krulwich explains how he first picked up this topic:
A few years ago, physicist Brian Skinner asked himself: What are the odds I will die in the next year? He was 25. What got him wondering about this, I have no idea, but, hey, it's something everybody asks. When I can't wedge my dental floss between my two front teeth, I ask it, too. So Brian looked up the answer — there are tables for this kind of thing — and what he discovered is interesting. Very interesting. Even mysterious.
It turns out that a fascinating 8-year rule emerges for most human lifespans. I will let you read all about it.
Tick-Tock goes the clock.
And welcome to 2014.
Tags bioethics, medicine, moment of death
Death + Popular Culture Death + Technology Death + the Web Death Ethics
Selfies at Funerals: Why People Freak Out when Technology Mixes with Death
4 Comments on Selfies at Funerals: Why People Freak Out when Technology Mixes with Death
Selfies at Funerals
Jason Feifer, @HeyFeifer
RT If You're 🙁 About Someone Dying
Katy Waldman, Slate (November 1, 2013)
A Passionate Defense of Selfies at Funerals
Caitlin Doughty, Jezebel (October 30, 2013)
When Cameras Took Pictures of Ghosts
Megan Garberoct, The Atlantic (October 30, 2013)
When photography was new, people used it to suggest the endurance of the departed.
Dark tourism: Why Murder Sites and Disaster Zones are Proving Popular
Will Coldwell, The Guardian (October 31, 2013)
Selfies at Serious Places
Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror
Series 2, Episode 1 Be Right Back (February 2013)
The kids today. They can't catch a break.
I watched the Selfies at Funerals Tumblr link roll across the internet this week and after seeing the images I immediately knew what was going to happen. People would complain about how the kids today were so self-absorbed that civilisation was near its collapse and how today's youth don't have any respect. I also knew that after this immediate condemnation, another group of voices would rise up to support the forsaken youth.
And this, Death Ref faithful, is exactly what happened.
The kids in the Selfies were damned left and right. It got a little thick at times.
But then, as should always be expected, another group of people took a more nuanced stand per the Selfies.
My good friend Caitlin Doughty at the Order of the Good Death wrote a strong defense of the kids on Jezebel and I mostly agree with her thoughts on the images. Where I disagree with Cailin is in arguing that these images represent a broader social disengagement with the reality of death. If anything, these photos show young people engaging with death, and doing so with a specific language that they've developed.
We humans invented all of our human death rituals. As a result, this means that all death rituals are constantly being changed, altered, and turned into hybrids. There is nothing innate about any ritual (given its human construction) so I think that it's important to say that I would be more surprised if young people weren't taking Selfies at funerals. This is the world they know but that doesn't mean that today's youth somehow lack any education about death.
Ironically enough, the Selfies at Funerals Tumblr page probably caused thousands more people to discuss actual death and funerals this week because of its supposedly disrespectful tone. Maybe, just maybe, the kids beat the adults at their own 'We NEED to talk about death game.'
Katy Waldman at Slate took a wise step and waited a few days before writing anything. She presents a good critique of responses to the images but also brings everything back to the kids using the photographs as forms of grieving. I agree with this point and I kept waiting for someone to roll out a broader discussion about the relationship between photography and death.
Photography has a long standing relationship with funerals, especially in America. The camera phone is only the most recent example of a technology we humans use to capture images at funerals. Another way of looking at these photos is this– what else would anyone in the First World expect teenagers to do with their camera phones at funerals? Megan Garberoct at The Atlantic wrote an uncannily timed article on 19th century postmortem photography and the ability of Victorian era photographers to capture 'Sprit' images with their cameras.
Selfie of the Author
But more than the photos themselves, it seems that the people criticising the kids just don't like the technology involved, i.e., the camera phone that produced the self-taken image.
Here, then, is the key lesson for everyone loving to hate and hating to love the Selfies at Funerals: We humans remain deeply conflicted when mixing all forms of technology with death.
The great science fiction writer Douglas Adams (who died far too young) made the following observation about humans and technology in The Salmon of Doubt:
I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
1. Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that's invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.
Given that my own research in the University of Bath's Centre for Death and Society examines how technology and death intermingle all the time, I want to let everyone know that Selfies at Funerals represent only the beginning of a much longer future. We should already be asking ourselves what happens when a person wearing a computing machine, such as Google Glass, captures images and video at a funeral. Is a line being crossed there and why? How? I ask these questions, because it is going to happen and happen soon.
Just remember, and not so long ago, the idea of using the internet for anything to do with death seemed inappropriate. So did playing pre-recorded music on a CD (especially loud rock and roll music), having mourners draw or paint on a coffin, or even choosing to be to cremated.
What we humans forget is that death's persistence means that we will persistently invent new kinds of death rituals. No ritual lives forever. Will Coldwell's Guardian article on Dark Tourism highlights how easily the very idea of established and appropriate 'death rituals' can be changed.
Earlier this year, Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror television series ran an episode called Be Right Back that effectively dramatised how the not-to-distant future might offer new kinds of technology for human grieving. Here is the show's description:
Martha and Ash are a young couple who move to a remote cottage. The day after the move, Ash is killed, returning the hire van. At the funeral, Martha's friend Sarah tells her about a new service that lets people stay in touch with the deceased. By using all his past online communications and social media profiles, a new 'Ash' can be created. Martha is disgusted by the concept but then in a confused and lonely state she decides to talk to 'him'…
Trust me when I say that if the technology imagined in Black Mirror suddenly appeared, the Selfies at Funerals shock and outrage would quickly wash away into the sea of human memory.
So where does this week take us? It's hard to say, because I have a feeling most people have already forgotten about the Selfies at Funerals and moved on to other more pressing issues.
But I do think that it is now time to officially launch a new Death Reference Desk rule about death and technology. To wit:
The Death Ref Technology Law: Any use of new technology that involves death, dying, and/or the dead body will be simultaneously rejected as a breakdown in human civility as well as embraced as an innovative turn for human grieving.
Or, as my friend Max summed up the situation on Facebook:
I was disgusted by this until I remembered I took a selfie at the last funeral I went to. Now I'm okay with it.
Tags Facebook, funerals, memorializing, postmortem photography, selfies at funerals
Death + Humor Death + Popular Culture Death + the Web
Dumb Ways to Die Wins Big at Cannes Festival of Creativity
No Comments on Dumb Ways to Die Wins Big at Cannes Festival of Creativity
In November 2012 we posted about Dumb Ways to Die, an Australian train company's public safety campaign video. The video just won top awards at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity. You can read more about the award from the Guardian: Cannes Lions: Dumb Ways to Die scoops top award.
If you missed it last time, definitely check it out!
SxSW Platforms for Haunting: The Talking Dead Podcast
No Comments on SxSW Platforms for Haunting: The Talking Dead Podcast
Platforms for Haunting: The Talking Dead
SxSW Interactive 2013
In March 2013, the Death Reference Desk headed to the South by Southwest Interactive conference.
A podcast of Death Ref John's talk has now been released and you can listen to it above.
He was part of presentation called Platforms for Haunting: The Talking Dead.
Here is a description of the presentation.
The relationship between death and technology is as old as human civilisation; from cenotaph to facebook memorial, industries have been built on our desire to remember and be remembered. Technology now enables us to create spine-chilling immersive experiences; allowing us to embody the worlds of our ancestors, enter our ghost stories and even plan a little post-mortem haunting ourselves. We want to move the conversation beyond discussions of data legacy to ask whether we can engender a new form of history, one that allows us to interact with the dead.
Bringing together experts in human remains, memorialisation and new technology this Panel will explore our relationship with mortality in a digital age. The discussion will draw on recent projects which have used new technology to augment cemeteries, populate historic sites with ghosts of their past and instigate twitter conversations with a 1,610 year old woman.
Tags lecture, memorializing, online memorials, SxSW