Digital estate memorial
A digital estate memorial is a digital, or electronic, representation of a living or deceased person's life. It commonly takes the form of photographic slideshows; online memorials; QR code products; NFC tags; gift boxes featuring tablets or smartphones with pre-installed estate instructions, messages, or guides; displays; and other electronic media-based representations.[1] It can be created during life or after death. Contributors are part of a 'permanent remembrance community' that captures and creates a memorial based on the use of digital media and a person's digital assets to form a virtual scrapbook in homage to a lived life.
The creation of a digital estate memorial helps secure the current and future 'personal branding' of a person's life, not only in tribute, but to establish the long-term stability of their estate for (human) beneficiaries.[2]
As experiential media (i.e., in the forms of social media, livestreaming, social photography, etc.) plays a larger part in the creation of a person's digital image, and with the increasing importance of digital assets with respect to estate planning, intellectual property, and digital inheritance in everyday lives and in death, creating a digital estate memorial is similar to creating a digital scrapbook as a celebration of life.
Digital bereavement
The application of digital estate memorials is posthumously and partially informed by the concept of digital bereavement, a term used extensively by websites such as SocialEmbers.com[3] - (a finalist in the 2015 Good Funeral Awards) - and others to describe various concerns and methods related to the management of one's digital estate upon passing. As accounts and data accumulate – email, social media, billing records, lifestreams, etc. – the methods used to protect descendants have evolved over the years of the digital and multimedia era.
Future claims
While records of social media timelines and other similar accounts need to be considered in estate planning, so too does the use of digital assets by the descendants of an estate for future use with respect to potential benefits and claims. Further consideration must be made if said claims result from the application of new technology not previously considered by an estate manager. With respect to a digital estate memorial, future applications of accrued data and information may provide opportunities for the memorial to benefit the estate. One current example is the use of historical photography in current applications to create new or hybrid representations of ancestors.
Tools
Basic tools used to create digital estate memorials include LED displays; website creation software; digital signage suites and displays; slideshow apps such as Flickr and FlickrFolio; content management systems (CMS); networking equipment and accessories; and hardware (including but not limited to Smart TVs and set-top boxes). This is a partial list of some of the necessary associated equipment needed to create a virtual tribute atmosphere.
Most funeral homes offer services for basic personal tributes such as a TV or DVD player,[4] yet as the demand for digital estate memorialization increases, tools such as Facebook's account Memorialization[5] service, along with other digital memorials, if used in conjunction with a viewing or wake, require further integration with Wi-Fi (or wired) Internet access, mobile data use, apps, and large-screen displays. Although there is an inherent stigma about accessing technology at a funeral service, the volume of cloud-based services catering to those living and deceased who wish to construct a digital afterlife indicates otherwise.[6]
Digital funeral signage
While there is no equivalent term to describe the use of interactive digital advertising displays at funeral services, the industry has yet to adopt standards with respect to the implementation of digital estate memorials and tributes from friends and loved ones. Many commercial services geared towards this part of death care use digital display screens for promotional or marketing purposes, not solely for tributes.
FrontRunnerPro offers the white-label FuneralScreen.com sign and kiosk solution for funeral homes. Included in the technical description of services offered are cloud-based storage; wall-mounted, free-standing, and outdoor digital signs; and a themed 'Book of Memories' provided by the sign manufacturer. This is a proprietary one-way system and is not interactive with existing online memorials. It is unknown whether future updates will include integration with social media and other permanent forms of tributes. This system is primarily marketed for temporary use as part of a rotating schedule of funeral home services. In other words, loved ones cannot "take away" any portion of the presentation.[7] The software applications used to create the presentation are from DigitalSignage.com, a provider of standard display advertising production suite applications. The company offers a free, feature-reduced solution with free cloud storage. Funeral directors seeking this solution would need an estate manager to engage a producer for this Adobe Air-based app.
Funeral livestreaming
A Google search for the terms 'WiFi' and 'Funeral home' reveals results indicating the death care industry's willingness to advertise technological innovation. One company offering livestreaming of funerals is New Zealand-based One Room, powered by Amazon Web Services and enabled by a Google Play and Apple Store downloadable app. The application requires 'strong mobile signal (preferably 4G) or wifi internet connection', potentially not available in all business locations.
In January 2016, entertainment website TMZ [8] reported that Motorhead lead singer Ian 'Lemmy' Kilmister's funeral was livestreamed to the world via a broadcast on YouTube. It was viewed by an estimated 250,000 people. Future use and reuse of this filmed material in productions that benefit descendants could be considered part of a digital estate memorial.
Living headstones
Monuments.com offers 'Living headstones', a QR code-enabled memorial gravestone. According to marketing materials, a QR code-enabled headstone "contains information you and friends add about your loved one, such as: an obituary, family heritage and history, photos, comments by friends and relatives, and even links to share content on popular social sites such as Facebook or Twitter".[9] Such markers can provide GPS coordinates in addition to social-media applications.
Content management
WordPress is a highly customizable content management system. One available plug-in is WP FuneralPress, providing tools for agencies and individual funeral homes to offer Internet-based control over obituaries. The long-term data retention associated with this system may not be ideal for estate use due to the unpredictability of free apps. The software offers no reliable method to guarantee the safe transfer of digital assets across generational succession.
See also
References
- ↑ "Augmented Reality". Augmented reality - Keeping Their Memory Alive, 2011.
- ↑ "Digital Death and Afterlife Online Services List, 2014". The Digital Beyond. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
- ↑ "About Social Embers, deceased and social media". SocialEmbers.com. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ↑ "Smith Funeral Home - Services". Smith Funeral Home. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
- ↑ "Memorialization Request - Facebook". Facebook. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
- ↑ "The Best Way To Utilize Technology For Memorials". The Digital Beyond. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
- ↑ "Frontrunner FuneralScreen". FuneralScreen.com. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
- ↑ "Lemmy Motorhead Frontman's Memorial Service". TMZ.com. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ↑ "Living Headstones". Monuments.com. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
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