The Third "Death Online Research Symposium"

The third "Death Online Research Symposium" took place in March 2017 in Aarhus, Denmark. 

I attended the two previous symposiums but unfortunately could'nt attend this one and therefore can't deliver a detailed summary of it as I did with the previous two (2014 Day 1, Day 2, 2015 Day 1, Day 2). 

I bring the programme here even though I wasn't there in person as one of the ways to see where Digital Death is heading is to look at who the speakers are and which subjects they present, research and are interested in. 

Day 1 

Keynote speaker:
Michael Hviid Jacobsen, professor, Aalborg University, DK: "Beyond Ariès - Contours of 'Spectacular Death'"

Paper Session: "Death and Society. Negotiating social agencies and relations". Speakers: 

• Johanna Sumiala, University of Helsinki, Finland
• Anu Harju, Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland
• Arnar Arnason, Aberdeen University, Scotland, UK
• Piergiorgio Degli Esposti, SDE Sociology and Business Law Department University of Bologna, Italy

Keynote speaker:
Connor Graham, Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow, National University of Singapore: "Human Mortality Humanness, Online Life and Death"

Paper Session. Speakers:

• Tobias Raun, University of Roskilde, DK
• Anders Gustavsson, University of Oslo, Norway
• Lisbeth Frølunde, Roskilde University, DK
• Luke van Ryn, University of Melbourne, Australia

Day 2 

Keynote speaker:
Jed Brubaker, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Information Science at the University of Colorado Boulder: "
Postmortem Interaction"

Paper Session. Speakers:

• Carsten Stage, Aarhus University, DK & Tina Thode Hougaard, Aarhus University, DK
• David Myles, University of Montreal and University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada
• Dorthe Refslund Christensen, Aarhus University, DK, & Kjetil Sandvik, University of Copenhagen, DK
• Ylva Haard af Segerstad, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Keynote speaker:  
Annett Markham, Professor MSO of Information Studies, School for Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Denmark: "Methods as Ethics: Challenges for studying death online"

Day 3

Paper Session. Speakers:

• Paula Kiel, London School of Economics and Political Science; London, UK.
• Jo Bell, University of Hull, UK
• Stine Gotved, IT University, Copenhagen, DK.
• Sharon Greenfield, RMIT University, Australia.

Plenary panel: ”Existential Terrains: Memory and Meaning in Cultures of Connectivity”, Dept. of Media Studies, Stockholm University, Sweden: "The Existential Terrains of Gender and Death Online"

Speakers:

• Amanda Lagerkvist, Stockholm University, Sweden
• Timothy Hutchings, Stockholm University, Sweden
• Michael Westerlund, Stockholm University, Sweden
• Katya Linden, Stockholm University, Sweden
• Charles Ess, University of Oslo, Norway

Plenary discussion and wrap up: "Addressing challenges in the academic study of Death Online / Future Dreams and Fantasies of the network". 

The Path to TEDxWhiteCity 2017

September 3rd 2016 Link for submitting a proposal to talk on TEDxWhiteCity 2017 arrives (Thank you Shir Peri) 

Facebook correspondence, print screen 

September 15th 2016 Proposal submitted 

Print screen 

October 13th 2016 Face-to-face interview 

Print screen 

November 15th 2016 Acceptance 

Print screen 

December 12th 2016 Work and preparations towards TEDxWhiteCity 2017 begin (44 days till January 25th 2017) 

Print screen 

December 18th 2016 Submission of 1st draft 

December 20th 2016 First meeting at "Virtuozo": a workshop for all speakers (four hours)

December 20th 2016, "Virtuozo"

January 1st 2017 Submission of 2nd draft 

January 2nd 2017 Second meeting at "Virtuozo", each speaker by himself/herself (an hour and a half each) 

January 2nd 2017, "Virtuozo", with Zaki Djemal

January 5th 2017 Submission of 3rd draft + Skype call with TEDx team (half an hour) 

January 11th 2017 Submission of 4th draft

January 12th 2017 Third meeting at "Virtuozo", three speakers together at a time (three hours all together) 

January 12th 2017, "Virtuozo"

January 16th 2017 Submission of 6th draft (never finished the 5th. Wasn't happy with it) + Skype call with TEDx team (half an hour) 

January 17th 2017 Fourth and last meeting at "Virtuozo", three speakers together at a time (two hours all together) 

January 17th 2017, "Virtuozo"

January 19th 2017 Submission of 7th and final draft 

January 20th 2017 Learning by heart commences (1621 words, five days till January 25th 2017) + sending parts of the talk to Digital Death experts abroad for peer review / fact checking / remarks + Skype call with TEDx team (one hour) 

January 21st 2017 Skype call with TEDx team (one hour) 

January 22nd 2017 Getting together for a toast with speakers, TEDx crew and "Virtuozo" crew 

Speakers, left to right: 

Eran Katz, me, Yaron Schwarcz, Yifat Yudovsky, Vardit Gross

January 24th 2017 General rehearsal at the Opera House (Among the set of the opera "Lucia di Lammermoor") 

January 24th 2017, Tel Aviv Opera House

January 25th 2017 TEDxWhiteCity 2017

A separate post about the day itself will follow. >>> Update: posted. 

Discount for You, Readers

The readers of this blog get a discount for purchasing tickets at TEDxWhiteCity. 

It's a 10 % discount (if you manage to still catch an "Early Bird" ticket, this discount is in addition). 

Type in the code TEDxDigitalDust where it says "Enter Promo Code": 

If you have any questions or problems, please contact team@tedxwhitecity.com (and not me) and give this code as a reference. 

See you on January 25th! 

January 25th 2017

I'm excited to let you know I'll be speaking at TEDxWhiteCity on January 25th 2017, at The Israeli Opera - Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center. 
It's an entire day (10:00 - 17:00), filled with ideas, stories and performances. 
The theme this time is: "Destination: Unknown". 
Tickets are available at: http://tedxwhitecity.com/

2016: Summary

In December 2014 I published a summary of 2014. 
In December 2015 I published a summary of 2015. 
As it's December 2016, I'm about to publish a summary of 2016. 

Well, actually, I'm not. 

As you noticed from the few blog posts, few Facebook page posts and few lectures I gave during 2016: 
I had to take time off for personal reasons, and it ended up being pretty much full on from January till now: My father is ill and my family and I went through (yet another) not simple nor easy year. 
I took a long break from the blog and from the Digital Death realms. I'm coming back - not sure yet for how long - due to an event which shall take place at the end of January 2017. 
I'll let you know what it is soon, here in the blog, in the Facebook page of the blog, and in the Twitter account of the blog. 

Stay tuned. 

A New Project Launched in the UK Today: Digital Remains

On May 20th 2014, Mórna O Connor, an Irish colleague and a friend, sent me an intriguing proposition: to take part in developing an RLO - a Reusable Learning Object - dedicated to Digital Remains. 

Thanks to Morna's hard work the RLO is now online. It launched today, March 2nd 2016, which marks five years since my brother, Tal Shavit, was killed, and is dedicated to his memory.

Digital Remains

Q:  What is this? 

Morna: 

"The resource is a Reusable Learning Object (RLO) that’s freely available online. It is a short interactive resource about what can be left digitally after death, how this can impact on the bereaved and what we, as members of the public and providers of health services, can do to better deal with this issue".

Q: How did it come into being? 

A: 

"The resource evolved from consultations with bereavement care staff about the role of technology in modern bereavement and grief. These care workers were uncertain about what can be left digitally after a death, why this differs from physical remains, how it impacts the bereaved, and what we can do about this issue. So, we invited these bereavement care professionals to participate, along with you, death studies academics from The Sue Ryder Centre and technology developers from HELM to create a resource that gives an introduction to these ideas and raises awareness about the modern experience of bereavement and grief.  We think it will be helpful for anyone who works with bereaved people and those at the end of life, and of course for members of the public. We all need to become more aware of the range and implications of what we leave behind digitally after death. We hope this RLO will be a step toward doing this". 

Mórna O Connor researches death, dying and bereavement and the role of technology in health. She has just begun a PhD exploring the digital-age experience of bereavement.She is part of both The Sue Ryder Care Centre for the Study of Supportive, Palliative and End of Life Care and Health E-Learning Media (HELM) research groups at the School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom. And she is also the narrator of the RLO! 

I have to say I envy her for having partners in the UK to collaborate with on such a project - just as I envy James Norris for having partners in the UK to collaborate with on his project (Digital Legacy Association: website, Facebook page).  I wish and hope I shall find partners for such collaborations in Israel too. 

I know that in both cases, even with their partners, neither of these two projects would have come into being without their leadership, vision, hard work and dedication, and I am very grateful I got to play a part, however small, in them both.

Please feel free to share the RLO with friends, family members and professionals working in counseling, end of life support, palliative care etc. 

Thank you Morna for the terrific work you've done and doing, for helping to not only raise awareness to these important issues but for creating actual tools to be used in this regard, and for pulling through through all the technological obstacles you faced while accomplishing this. 

Be Kind: Backup

Someone you care about is grieving? You wish to be helpful and don't know how? I have an idea for you: tell them to backup. 

Backup? What do you mean "backup"? Do you think now is the right time to mention such a thing to the bereaved? 

Yes, I do: backing up videos, photos, texts and memories related to the deceased could be a very big - and very practical, meaningful and helpful - act of kindness. And not a moment too soon, too. 

The following stories are all in Hebrew and from Israel, but I believe the story is a universal one (and would appreciate receiving relevant links and print screens in other languages): 

2016. Anat Dolev passes away. Her son begs for help retrieving her stolen smartphone with the last pictures of her on it. 

 Facebook printscreen

Facebook printscreen

2015. Idan Shacham begs for help retrieving the stolen smartphone of Hodaya Goren. On it were pictures and memories of their recently deceased mutual friend Bar Shavit, who died a few months earlier.  

Facebook printscreen

(Link no longer available)

2014. Myriam Safrai begs for help retrieving her stolen smartphone. It contained un-backed up pictures of Muli, her five years old son, who passed away three weeks earlier. 

Facebook printscreen

2013. Roni Lahav - Vidra begs for help retrieving her stolen ipad. It contained un-backed up videos of her late husband, Yuval Vidra, with their baby boy Idan.

Facebook printscreen

2013. Tzach Cohen begs for help retrieving the stolen smartphone of his sister, Noy. It was stolen shortly after her death. 

Facebook printscreen

2005. Haim Avraham begs for help retrieving his stolen computer. On it were un-backed up memories and pictures of his dead son, Benny.

ynet printcsreen

This is why telling grieving people to backup could be such an act of kindness. Because pictures, videos, texts and memories might be lost irretrievably, if they are only on a single device which might get stolen or broken - smartphone, tablet, laptop, computer. Do it gently, but do it: suggest that they back up as much as possible to cloud storing and/or a portable, external hard drive. If you really wanna be helpful bring all the necessary cables along and find out for them how could it be done with their specific device/s and/or operating system/s. Don't expect them to think about it themselves - they are grieving. This is what you, as someone who cares about them and wishes to assist and support them during this difficult time, could be there for. 

When a tragedy occurs there is so much pain we can't do anything about and we can't ease. Let's at least ease up where we can and make sure the materials memories are made of are well kept. 

This is also why I say therapists, psychologists, social workers and other professionals and volunteers who support bereaved people should be trained in digital matters as well: to make sure there is someone there to tell grieving people to backup, and now.