Ask, Inventory, Observe

Inventory:

In major studio group research, we did some study around digital remains. Start with the definition of digital remains, we try to find things as much as possible that are related to digital remains/heritage/death and then categorize accordingly. By looking into individual company policies, Ted Talk, existing websites, I gather a list of web links that have relevant documentations. By comparing sites, I have noticed that the policies and laws regarding digital remains vary across different companies, and different countries also have very different approaches in this area.

Observe:

Mindmap is mainly used to generate and organize the information that have association to this topic. We draw out all the possible digital artifacts that could eventually become digital remains and try to find examples for all the possibilities.

Ask:

We conducted an online questionary by asking people around their awareness, attitude and thoughts regarding digital remains. Our questions are as below:

What kind of digital platforms do you use?

Do you want those companies to keep all the data you have?

What would you like the companies to keep for you?

Do you want someone to get access to your digital accounts?

Which access would you like to pass?

Have you ever thought about how to deal with your digital remains?

What plan do you have to deal with your digital remains?

Are you aware of any company's policy regarding the digital remains?

To our surprise, we got more people prefer to delete all their information after decease and most people are not aware of digital remains/heritage/death. Of course, the sample size of responds is still relatively small, but it also gives us some ideas about how people feel about this topic.