October, Digital Death and other experiences
Back in early October I was privileged to be able to attend Digital Death Day at #c4cc.
I've been interested in the ideas behind digital death, particularly since seeing Digital Remains project at the RCA Show in 2006. The questions behind 'what happens to your data when you die' especially with so much of our social lives lived online now. How can these momentos be passed on.
The day was run under 'Open Space Technology', a very interesting (and engaging) way of running unconfrences. I liked the whole ethos, that whoever comes are the right people, that it goes on for as long as it needs to, and the appropriateness of the rule of two feet, that if your not learning or contributing, its ok to move on, its your responsibility to find a place you can.
Two favourite sessions. The day itself led to quite a few interesting conversations. A presentation on a digital inheritance service, (much like digital lockers and the like, except rather than just relying on the 'are you alive' e-mails, they also monitor your social networking activity, plus you can nominate real people they check with. Avoids the scary 'your loved one is dead, here's their passwords' e-mails, just when they have an accident. This led into a conversation about digital wills and other aspects of inheritance in the digital space. (Leaving your social media accounts to loved ones, whose responsibility is it to look after them? how will you let people know?, also should we not just opt for a tape worm to delete it all!)
Post lunch, there was also chance to look through and talk about the meaning of forever, and what does it mean for data to be kept forever? Do any social media services use the terms, we will keep your data forever? Who is going to upkeep it? How can it be preserved for history? There was a talk of perhaps a Doner card like widget or scheme, maybe a 'I want to leave my social media account for history.' I think this is a serious issue, as not only are we generated so much online data, but we're losing it too, and how do we guarantee we can read it back. I picture an digital archivist, historian, restorationists from the future using today's computers, and today's software, reconstructing web pages from photographs, complete with imperfections, as a matter of social record.
An interesting day, I'm still digesting things from this, I do want to see if there is a project I can draw out of this, I'm particularly interested in this idea of digital archivists and the meaning of keeping our data forever.
October Catch Ups. Keeping going, house hunting not so well, but thats ok for this year now, above the pub is fine. I continue to try to earn a living through web development while working on other projects, though through next year I would like to switch it so other projects pay... Thats something I hope to be closer to doing.
Future We Deserve. Vinays New book, been rushing in my two submissions before tonight's deadline. The Future of Programming, about how we need to expose the magical experience of getting a computer to do something was my first. My second, on Hacking society, brought in part of Beta Town, a project from First Year RCA. I'm still not too sure what to really talk about with regards to that, hacking society has a lot to be said about it, though I think adding Beta Town helps with the narrative a little. Please add suggestions as I'm told there is time for edits.
I've been interested in the ideas behind digital death, particularly since seeing Digital Remains project at the RCA Show in 2006. The questions behind 'what happens to your data when you die' especially with so much of our social lives lived online now. How can these momentos be passed on.
The day was run under 'Open Space Technology', a very interesting (and engaging) way of running unconfrences. I liked the whole ethos, that whoever comes are the right people, that it goes on for as long as it needs to, and the appropriateness of the rule of two feet, that if your not learning or contributing, its ok to move on, its your responsibility to find a place you can.
Two favourite sessions. The day itself led to quite a few interesting conversations. A presentation on a digital inheritance service, (much like digital lockers and the like, except rather than just relying on the 'are you alive' e-mails, they also monitor your social networking activity, plus you can nominate real people they check with. Avoids the scary 'your loved one is dead, here's their passwords' e-mails, just when they have an accident. This led into a conversation about digital wills and other aspects of inheritance in the digital space. (Leaving your social media accounts to loved ones, whose responsibility is it to look after them? how will you let people know?, also should we not just opt for a tape worm to delete it all!)
Post lunch, there was also chance to look through and talk about the meaning of forever, and what does it mean for data to be kept forever? Do any social media services use the terms, we will keep your data forever? Who is going to upkeep it? How can it be preserved for history? There was a talk of perhaps a Doner card like widget or scheme, maybe a 'I want to leave my social media account for history.' I think this is a serious issue, as not only are we generated so much online data, but we're losing it too, and how do we guarantee we can read it back. I picture an digital archivist, historian, restorationists from the future using today's computers, and today's software, reconstructing web pages from photographs, complete with imperfections, as a matter of social record.
An interesting day, I'm still digesting things from this, I do want to see if there is a project I can draw out of this, I'm particularly interested in this idea of digital archivists and the meaning of keeping our data forever.
October Catch Ups. Keeping going, house hunting not so well, but thats ok for this year now, above the pub is fine. I continue to try to earn a living through web development while working on other projects, though through next year I would like to switch it so other projects pay... Thats something I hope to be closer to doing.
Future We Deserve. Vinays New book, been rushing in my two submissions before tonight's deadline. The Future of Programming, about how we need to expose the magical experience of getting a computer to do something was my first. My second, on Hacking society, brought in part of Beta Town, a project from First Year RCA. I'm still not too sure what to really talk about with regards to that, hacking society has a lot to be said about it, though I think adding Beta Town helps with the narrative a little. Please add suggestions as I'm told there is time for edits.
Labels: c4cc, digital death day, October, reflections
posted by andy broomfield at 11:17 PM
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