Le Web3 Live

Live blogging, social networking and permanent gaming – Web 2.0 starts to look like a “life net”. And so, what happens when you die? Will your digital ID remain, bringing you into eternity through the Internet? Will you change into an e-ghost?
It seems like our behaviour towards death is changing as our approach to social relationship is evolving. Funeral and mourning codes are rather obvious in real life, but what will they look like online?

Death Turns to “Live”

The first attempt to bringing mourning to the Web appeared on permanent games such as World of Warcraft. Several stories have been reported since 2005, when online funeral services were held to commemorate players who died. Those services took place as meetings between players. Some of them turned to controversy and the players discussed the legitimacy and respect of that kind of commemorations. The controversy became bitter when some players decided to disturb some of the memorial services.
Other experiences happened when blogs became places to announce, comment and commemorate after some people deceased. Last month in France, such an event was reported – two teenagers died in Villiers-le-Bel, which led to new tensions in the banlieues, and the blog of one of them was being used to write about him and the circumstances of his passing.

Six “Feed” Under

Recently, punctual tributes led to a new way of living death online. Are “Cemeteries 2.0” about to actually appear? A website already uses the name. Some pages have been created to write epitaphs on the Web, like the MySpace Deathplace, presented as a “collection of dead MySpace users”. Again, the website led to a controversy.
The same idea was the starting point for the creation of a company – Respectance – launched in July 2007 as the first “emosocial media”. The website suggests to “share memories” through tributes, photos, videos or even groups. It embodies the first actual memorial place online and claims for a new tradition.
What could be the next step? In January 2007, a Dutch company – Uitvaart – opened a crematorium on Second Life. Again, a sign in favour of the digitalization of funeral behaviour.