Idea: Our Digital Shadow

18 March 2017

After watching another TEDtalk by Vered Shavit, who lost her brother in a car accident and had to deal with her brother's digital assets, she provoked me with her question of what actually happens to everything we upload online and if there is a better and easier way to deal with the assets for the loved one's of the deceased user. 

"Learn about the world of your digital assets, digital death, and the relevant policies to promote awareness about this very important issue.

Vered Shavit explores the surprising new challenges following deaths in the digital era: from the way our online personalities are commemorated posthumously and sometimes “keep on living,” to the fate of our digital assets and legacies.

After years of working as a producer for television and cultural events, in 2011 she encountered the subject under tragic circumstances. Her brother, journalist Tal Shavit, was killed when hit by a car. She was thus introduced to the Digital Death realms, realized there was a gap in awareness and solutions, and became an independent researcher and lecturer in this field. Shavit founded blogs, such as “Digital Dust.” She speaks at organizations, such as universities and the official committee of the Israeli Knesset. Her work was featured vastly in the Israeli television, radio, print and online news, as well as on BBC Radio 4 and several international publications."



Furthermore it made me think what the future could hold with all those memories, individual data and personality snippets and elements that get uploaded by us everyday. What could Future Generations see and learn from us, their ancestors? I might even be a total new way of how we perceive history in the future