Main description:

Death and Digital Media provides a critical overview of how people mourn, commemorate and interact with the dead through digital media. It maps the historical and shifting landscape of digital death, considering a wide range of social, commercial and institutional responses to technological innovations. The authors examine multiple digital platforms and offer a series of case studies drawn from North America, Europe and Australia. The book delivers fresh insight and analysis from an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on anthropology, sociology, science and technology studies, human-computer interaction, and media studies. It is key reading for students and scholars in these disciplines, as well as for professionals working in bereavement support capacities.

Contents:

1. Death and Digital Media: An Introduction 2. Pre-Digital Mediums, Media, and Mediations 3. The Materialities of Gravesites and Websites 4. Death and Social Media: Entanglements of Policy and Practice 5. Mixing Repertoires: Commemoration in Digital Games and Online Worlds 6. The Funeral as a Site of Innovation 7. Looking to the Future of Life after Death Afterword by Elizabeth Hallam