1st Edition

Digital Afterlife Death Matters in a Digital Age

Edited By Maggi Savin-Baden, Victoria Mason-Robbie Copyright 2020
    230 Pages 12 B/W Illustrations
    by Chapman & Hall

    230 Pages 12 B/W Illustrations
    by Chapman & Hall

    230 Pages 12 B/W Illustrations
    by Chapman & Hall

    Despite the range of studies into grief and mourning in relation to the digital, research to date largely focuses on the cultural practices and meanings that are played out in and through digital environments. Digital Afterlife brings together experts from diverse fields who share an interest in Digital Afterlife and the wide-ranging issues that relate to this. The book covers a variety of matters that have been neglected in other research texts, for example:

    • The legal, ethical, and philosophical conundrums of Digital Afterlife
    • The ways digital media are currently being used to expand the possibilities of commemorating the dead and managing the grief of those left behind

    Our lives are shaped by and shape the creation of our Digital Afterlife as the digital has become a taken for granted aspect of human experience. This book will be of interest to undergraduates from computing, theology, business studies, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and education from all types of institutions. Secondary audiences include researchers and postgraduate researchers with an interest in the digital.

    At a practical level, the cost of data storage and changing data storage systems mitigate the likelihood of our digital presence existing in perpetuity. Whether we create accidental or intentional digital memories, this has psychological consequences for ourselves and for society. Essentially, the foreverness of forever is in question.

    Maggi Savin-Baden is Professor of Higher Education Research at the University of Worcester. She has a strong publication record of over 50 research publications and 17 books.

    Victoria Mason-Robbie is a Chartered Psychologist and an experienced lecturer having worked in the Higher Education sector for over 15 years. Her current research focuses on evaluating web-based avatars, pedagogical agents, and virtual humans.

    Acknowledgements

    Editors

    Contributors

    Introduction

    Maggi Savin-Baden and Victoria Mason-Robbie

    Chapter 1 ◾ Perspectives on Digital Afterlife

    Maggi Savin-Baden and Victoria Mason-Robbie

    Chapter 2 ◾ Social Media and Digital Afterlife

    Elaine Kasket

    Chapter 3 ◾ Posthumous Digital Material: Does It ‘Live On’ in Survivors’ Accounts of Their Dead?

    Mórna O’Connor

    Chapter 4 ◾ The Transition from Life to the Digital Afterlife: Thanatechnology and Its Impact on Grief

    Carla Sofka

    Chapter 5 ◾ Profit and Loss: The Mortality of the Digital Immortality Platforms

    Debra Bassett

    Chapter 6 ◾ The ‘New(ish)’ Property, Informational Bodies, and Postmortality

    Edina Harbinja

    Chapter 7 ◾ Digital Remains: The Users’ Perspectives

    Tal Morse and Michael Birnhack

    Chapter 8 ◾ Legal Issues in Digital Afterlife

    Gary F. Rycroft

    Chapter 9 ◾ Building a Digital Immortal

    David Burden

    Chapter 10 ◾ Philosophical Investigations into Digital Afterlife

    John Reader

    Chapter 11 ◾ Postdigital Afterlife: A Philosophical Framework

    Petar Jandrić

    Chapter 12 ◾ Digital Afterlife Matters

    Victoria Mason-Robbie and Maggi Savin-Baden

    GLOSSARY

    INDEX

    Biography

    Maggi Savin-Baden, Victoria Mason-Robbie