Digital Afterlife Research Articles

Digital Afterlife and the Future of Collective Memory

Abstract Digital technology increasingly addresses people dealing with dying, death and grief. The range of options now extends to ai-based forms of “digital afterlife”, in which the deceased are represented digitally in the form of a chatbot or avatar. Based on large amounts of personal data, they can simulate the person’s communicative behavior, including their visual appearance, thus enabling him or her to interact with users. The applications of the so-called Digital Afterlife Industry not only offer new possibilities in the fields of grief culture, the education sector, and the entertainment industry, but also raise ethical, legal and security-related questions that have so far received little attention. At the intersection of technological innovation (especially artificial intelligence), cultures of mourning and collective memory, this article discusses the (potential) social effects of a digital afterlife and its implication in terms of memory. We will particularly address the fact that more and more people in their everyday life are able to use a digital public representation, which continues after their death and with which users can interact.

Book Review: Resurrecting the Black Body: Race and the Digital Afterlife

Book Review: Resurrecting the Black Body: Race and the Digital Afterlife

Digital Afterlives: Imagining Effective Policies and Regulations for Digital Remains

The digital platforms we engage with daily are brimming with the digital traces of the dead. These digital remains – or the photos, videos, and text messages left behind by deceased users (Lingel 2013), have given rise to the digital death industry – an umbrella term for online platforms that offer services such as online memorialisations, virtual funerals, and graves, andinteractions with avatars of the deceased through chatbots and virtual reality (Öhman and Floridi 2017). Mourners turn to these digital infrastructures to express their grief and experience the continued presence of the deceased through their digital remains (Kasket 2020). Yet the presence of digital remains and the digital death industry presents several policy concerns related toprivacy, digital dignity, the question of access and ownership, and the potential for commodifying deceased user data (Kasket, 2019). Without effective policies and regulations that provide guidelines for service providers and internet users, the dead are not afforded privacy rights nor considerations for their digital dignity and protections for their postmortem data. Left exposed and with no legal safeguards in place, digital remains are vulnerable to offences with tremendous emotional implications for the bereaved.Guided by information ethics as a theoretical framework exploring questions related to creating, accessing, and collecting digital data (Bruneault et al., 2023), my lightning talk asks us to imagine constructing potential policies and regulations that serve to protect our posthumous digital footprint.

Digital Access, Digital Literacy, and Afterlife Preparedness: Societal Contexts of Digital Afterlife Traces

This study aims to evaluate how individuals are prepared to cope with or plan for their afterlife digital footprints, by examining how (1) access, (2) literacy, and (3) preparedness for digital afterlife work in concert to influence one’s wellbeing. We found the indirect relationship between access and wellbeing and the influence of digital literacy on wellbeing was indirect, illustrating that the key to the puzzle is in the sequential step in which digital literacy incubates the readiness to cope with digital remains, which influences one’s subjective wellbeing. One of the most unrecognized challenges facing digital traces is the exploitation of post-life remain of data, as the question of who accesses, owns, or controls personal data after death remains largely unanswered. We argue that the preparedness for digital afterlife represents a new form of social concern with real-life consequences, or even a newer space for inequality debates.

Resurrecting the Black Body: Race and the Digital Afterlife, by Tonia Sutherland (2023)

Resurrecting the Black Body: Race and the Digital Afterlife, by Tonia Sutherland (2023)

The Digital Afterlives of Dambudzo Marechera

Abstract Dambudzo Marechera who died in 1987 remains a fascinating phenomenon in African literary culture. He is very much alive in the visual culture in which he circulates digitally. He is at once posthumous, multiple, and contemporary. Even though Marechera did not live to see the 21st century, he left versions of himself that remain both relevant and resonant. This paper considers the various ways Marechera’s digital afterlives manifest and force us to interrogate the intersections of life, death, personal data and human autonomy and presents a critique of unethical digital resurrection. Who does digital Marechera belong to?

Mourning for Strangers: Black Women, Sequelae, and the Digital Afterlife of Police Violence

Based on 32 in-depth interviews with black women, this paper analyzes the racialized and gendered impact of vicarious exposure to police encounters on social media. We draw from Smith’s (2016) sequelae to describe the lingering effects of anti-black state violence, particularly grief and mourning. For Black women, the manifestation of sequelae from online exposure includes: a) amplification of police brutality, b) identification with victims, c) expressions of grief, and d) prolonged mourning. We argue research should contend with the digital landscape when examining psychological effects of police violence to understand anti-black police violence’s impact on gendered racial mental health disparities.

The digital afterlife between hypersecularization and postsecularity in contemporary speculative TV seriality: Devs, Upload and Black Mirror’s ‘San Junipero’

This article explores representations of the digital afterlife in contemporary speculative TV seriality within the broader context of their attitudes towards the fate of religions and religiosity in contemporary society. Specifically, it examines the miniseries Devs, the Black Mirror episode ‘San Junipero’ and the dramedy series Upload. Set in a near future, these series present distinctive and contrasting views on the future of religion in the public sphere, as well as in private life, and on the development of secularization processes, along with the entanglements between secular, religious and moral concerns. The article highlights how texts such as those considered exemplify the current transitional phase western societies are experiencing, wherein conventional narratives of secularization and more complex deconstructions of the secular–religious divide coexist. Through the various ways in which a futuristic yet imaginable setting like the digital afterlife is envisioned and represented, these texts articulate postsecular and hypersecularized accounts of near-future societies. The digital afterlife thus emerges as a tool for exploring different world-views, forms of morality and conceptions of everyday life and the meaning of human existence.

Digital eternity: The holographic resurrection of music icons

Holographic reincarnations blend the allure of the past with the possibilities of modern technology, navigating through ethical quandaries and the redefinition of performance art. Central to this exploration is the fusion of memory and digital perpetuity, pushing the limits of what constitutes a live performance. The holographic rebirth of legends such as Elvis Presley, Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston sparks debate over the ethics of posthumous consent, the authenticity of such representations and the implications of monetizing the afterlife of artists. This shift towards digital eternity prompts a critical assessment of the moral dimensions involved in resurrecting artists through technology. Exploring the history and development of holography, from historical illusions to contemporary artificial intelligence-enhanced presentations, reveals both the technological achievements and the ethical challenges presented by these endeavours. The drive behind these resurrective projects shines a light on a lucrative industry focused on ‘Delebs’, turning the legacies of deceased celebrities into profitable ventures. Yet the quest to immortalize artists digitally invites scrutiny over potential misuse, privacy breaches and the erosion of the true essence of their legacies. Addressing these complex issues demands a concerted effort from ethicists, legal scholars, technology experts and cultural commentators. The journey into this uncharted domain highlights the necessity of balancing innovation with respect, advocating for a principled approach to honouring those who have passed. The concept of confining artists to a ‘digital purgatory’, where they exist solely for entertainment devoid of self-determination, emphasizes the urgency of establishing ethical guidelines. This digital afterlife, fraught with the risk of diminishing the soul of artistic works to mere commercial assets, calls for a vigilant approach to safeguard the dignity and volition of artists in the realm of digital legacy.

Griefbots, Deadbots, Postmortem Avatars: on Responsible Applications of Generative AI in the Digital Afterlife Industry

To analyze potential negative consequences of adopting generative AI solutions in the digital afterlife industry (DAI), in this paper we present three speculative design scenarios for AI-enabled simulation of the deceased. We highlight the perspectives of the data donor, data recipient, and service interactant – terms we employ to denote those whose data is used to create ‘deadbots,’ those in possession of the donor’s data after their death, and those who are meant to interact with the end product. We draw on the scenarios to map out several key ethical concerns posed by ‘re-creation services’ and to put forward recommendations on the ethical development of AI systems in this specific area of application. The recommendations, targeted at providers of AI-enabled re-creation services, include suggestions for developing sensitive procedures for retiring deadbots, ensuring meaningful transparency, restricting access to such services to adult users only, and adhering to the principle of mutual consent of both data donors and service interactants. While we suggest practical solutions to the socio-ethical challenges posed by the emergence of re-creation services, we also emphasize the importance of ongoing interdisciplinary research at the intersection of the ethics of AI and the ethics of the DAI.

Theorising Digital Afterlife as Techno-Affective Assemblage: On Relationality, Materiality, and the Affective Potential of Data

In the ongoing academic discussion regarding what happens to our data after we die, how our data are utilised for commercial profit-making purposes, and what kinds of death-related practices our posthumous data figure in, the notion of digital afterlife is attracting increasing attention. While the concept of digital afterlife has been approached in different ways, the main focus remains on the level of individual loss. The emphasis tends to be on the role of posthumous digital artefacts in grief practices and death-related rituals or on data management issues relating to death. Building on a socio-technical view of digital afterlife, this paper offers, as a novel contribution, an understanding of digital afterlife as a techno-affective assemblage. It argues for the necessity of examining technological and social factors as mutually shaping and brings into the discussion of digital afterlife the notions of relationality, materiality, and the affective potential of data. The paper ends with ruminations about digital afterlife as a posthumanist project.

Этико-философские аспекты цифровой танатологии

Modern man’s digital being has changed his attitude towards the most important cultural existentials, including the problem of death, which was sacred in previous eras. The article analyzes the characteristics of digital thanatology and raises the philosophical questions about the modes of digital afterlife. From an ethical and legal point of view, the article draws attention to the need to legally restrict the circulation on the Internet of the content depicting the bodies or parts of the bodies of military personnel killed in combat zones. The article analyzes moral and ethical nuances of new socio-cultural practices: selfies with the dead; streaming from funerals, creation of digital cemeteries and sharing of medical autopsy videos on Internet platforms. The author proposes the inclusuion of “Digital Ethics” course in the university curriculum on Ethics in order to prevent the devaluation of the problem of death under the influence of digitalization.

The Art of Dying in a Digital World: How Death is Represented in Digital Art

With the rise of computing, human rituals and cultural practices have increasingly interwoven with digital technologies. In this milieu, the cultural facets of death and art are particularly noteworthy. The realm of art has undergone a seismic shift due to computing, developing new artistic forms and enhancing the reach of older forms. Concurrently, aspects of death are now integrated into digital technologies, manifesting in unique ways such as the retention of data from the deceased, digital expressions of grief, online memorials, and the like. In light of this, our fundamental, qualitative, and exploratory study endeavors to map out and discuss digital art pieces that delve into themes of death, mourning, and digital afterlife. In doing so, we probe the intersection of art, death, and technology. Our findings delineate the primary methodologies and technologies employed in digital art centered around death, and the nuanced modalities through which this subject is portrayed in digital media.

Resurrecting the Black body: Race and the digital afterlife By ToniaSutherland, Berkely, CA: University of California Press. 2023. 214 pp.

Resurrecting the Black body: Race and the digital afterlife By ToniaSutherland, Berkely, CA: University of California Press. 2023. 214 pp.

Digital Death

This paper reflexively unpicks digital ethnographic methods employed during ongoing online fieldwork on ‘digital deaths’. To do so, this research delves into the digital afterlife, exploring the fate of online traces and social media profiles after death, and how social media has changed our relationship with death and grieving. Anthropological studies of online death and grief faced new challenges even before COVID-19 moved research projects online. These include shared vulnerabilities and the ethnographer’s position, online field sites, omnipresent online traces and posthumous personhood, and ethical algorithms and duty to the dead. By transparently detailing my research methods whilst conducting research with Facebook and Instagram users navigating loss, this article contributes an honest and extensive debate on processes, challenges, ethics, and research collaboration. Guided by visual and media anthropology, I advocate for a set of methods rooted in shared anthropology (Rouch 1995) which fosters ongoing dialogue with participants. Thus, this article offers a new perspective on digital death, rooted in collaborative storytelling and reflexive methodologies, facilitating discussions on a still-contentious subject in certain societies. Leveraging the benefits of digital ethnography’s multi-sited nature, the research widens its geographical reach and comments on the sociocultural impacts of digital death. Keywords: digital afterlife, digital death, digital ethnography, social media, reflexive ethnography, shared anthropology, grief, methodology

The Law Of The Upload

In April 2020, Amazon released a new comedy series called “Upload.” The show extrapolates a future in which human consciousness is successfully simulated in silico. In this world, individuals pay to be “uploaded” into a digital afterlife. When uploaded, human consciousness is converted into data and executable code, which can be edited, reset, or even deleted depending on each upload’s membership and payment plan. The show breaks the boundaries between reality and virtual reality, consciousness and artificial intelligence, and even life and afterlife, entangling existing legal questions in novel ways. By addressing three of these legal issues, we hope to highlight how science fiction may help launch a more nuanced conversation about what is artificial in artificial intelligence, what is virtual in virtual reality, and what is digital in digital rights. We argue that becoming early adopters of a new reconceptualized language around “us” and “them”, the “self” and the “other,” can perhaps future proof our society from the technological perils that await us.

Information science and the inevitable: A literature review at the intersection of death and information management: An Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST) paper

AbstractDeath is an inevitable part of life and highly relevant to information management: its approach often requires preparation, and its occurrence often demands a response. Many works in information science have acknowledged so much, and yet death is rarely a focused topic, appearing instead sporadically and disconnected across research. As a result there is no introduction to, overview of, or synthesis across studies on death and information. We therefore conducted an extensive literature search and reviewed nearly 300 scholarly publications at the intersection of death and information (and data) management. Covering seven topics in total, we review two groups of work directly engaging information management in relation to death (digital possessions, inheritance, and legacy; information behavior, needs, and practices around death), three engaging death and technology that require information and its management (death and the Internet, thanatosensitive design and technology‐augmented death practices, and the digital afterlife and digital immortality), and two reflecting the ethical and legal dimensions unique to death and information. We then integrate the collective findings to summarize the landscape of death‐related information research, outline remaining challenges for individuals, families, institutions, and society, and identify promising directions for future information science research.

Digital Séance: Fabricated Encounters with the Dead

Digital afterlife is becoming increasingly possible due to advancements in VR, deepfake, and AI technologies. The use of computational photography for mourning and commemoration has been re-integrated into practices of remembrance, farewell, continuity, and disengagement. Two case studies, the Shoah Foundation’s Dimensions in Testimony and the TV production Meeting You, are analyzed to explore these new possibilities. We show how photography’s new affordances enable interaction while maintaining its essence as a representation of reality and argue that this socio-technological transformation habituates contemporary practices of mourning and commemoration, adjusting images to serve the individual needs and interests of the bereaved and the community.

Being scene-un/seen: Demonstrations, theatricality and community afterlives in technological mediation

This article examines the visibility of communities of demonstration and protest in live happening and in digital reproduction – how a protesting community becomes seen, individuals unseen and how theatrical elements are employed and deployed to enhance and augment such visibility as a scene. Looking at protests by Extinction Rebellion (XR), I observe how heightened performance/theatricality saturates their demonstrations and spawns heightened visibility. This hyper-articulates their messages as optically charged, ready for representation in photography, video and audio that can echo through media channels. Instigated with an intention for a technologically reproduced and mediatized after-event – a digital afterlife. In this sense, theatricalizing the demonstration event as performance scene makes it, and any associated messages, ready to transcend event time–space and become a demonstration hyper-object, following Timothy Morton. That is, through theatrical performance their message/statement/community becomes part of a massive entity that exists beyond local scales of space and time. As accessible, temporally extensive data such communities and messages exist far beyond the live protest. While not an object per se, XR’s messages and their affective impact contaminate and spread by being commented on, seen, retweeted, hash-tagged, forwarded, printed and so on in print and digital media spaces. In so doing, they reach far greater audiences than those at the demonstration event, amplifying their virtual spaces with the community’s application of theatricality working both as a catalyst and carrier.

12Posthumanism

Abstract Varieties of posthumanism in literature and popular culture received sustained attention, as expected, in 2022. Human–nonhuman relationships, whether in terms of the human–animal or human–artificial-being relationship; issues of care for/of the nonhuman; theological debates around posthumanism, especially with regard to rituals, practices of belief, and the ‘digital afterlife’; and the different genealogies of the posthuman, were themes that informed a large number of essays and books. This chapter aims for a comprehensive survey of the year’s work and is organized around six sections that seek to summarize the major contributions to work in posthumanism: 1. Theorizing Posthumanism; 2. Literary Posthumanisms; 3. Popular Posthumanisms; 4. Posthumanism and the Disciplines; 5. The Nonhuman; and 6. Posthumanism after the Pandemic.