Digital Immortality or Not?The aim of this thesis was to explore how we might be stewards for our post-life digital self after physical death, and to provide a new interaction experience in the form of a tangible, digital, or service design solution. Prior to the project kick-off secondary research, including academic research papers, analogous services, and existing projects, was distilled to form topical questions. These questions were then presented in many casual topical conversations and revealed that although post-life digital asset management awareness is increasing, little consideration exists on how to reflect legacies into the future long after death. A second stage of primary research included multiple on-site investigations, paired with in-person interviews and a quantitative online survey. Insights and understandings then lead to initial concepts that were tested to address distinctive qualities between tangible and digital design solutions. The main findings included that although people want to be remembered long after they die, current methods of tangible and digital content management can not sufficiently support the reflection of legacies long into the future. In conclusion, this thesis argues that to become part of an everlasting legacy, the interaction experience can leverage commonalities and shared moments from life events captured in digital media. These points of connections rely on associated metadata (i.e. keyword tags, date stamps, geolocation) to align relevant moments that transcend time and generations. The solution proposed here harnesses the benefits that both digital and tangible media afford and are presented as a tablet interface with an associated tangible token used as a connection key.

This diploma thesis focuses on the topic of posthumous user data management concerning social media platforms. This topic is rarely discussed from the viewpoint of new media studies in academic literature. My thesis endeavours to unveil, contextualize, and critically assess the development of the posthumous data policies in order to uncover the level of control users and survivors have over the deceased users' data. Thus, three case studies of chronological posthumous policy development of major social media (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) were conducted and results were compared. The analysis has shown that platforms are rather reluctant to change their posthumous policies. One of the primary triggers for change comes from the users' feedback. Across all three cases every platform provided limited or no information about these policies in their terms of use or privacy policies. The case studies demonstrated that users have very limited choices regarding their data after death directly on the examined social media platforms. Individuals who were close to the deceased account users have the ability to request account deletion or have limited access to the account granted by the platform. The level of data preservation demanded by platforms seems dependent on a given social media's communication specificity...

This diploma thesis focuses on the topic of posthumous user data management concerning social media platforms. This topic is rarely discussed from the viewpoint of new media studies in academic literature. My thesis endeavours to unveil, contextualize, and critically assess the development of the posthumous data policies in order to uncover the level of control users and survivors have over the deceased users' data. Thus, three case studies of chronological posthumous policy development of major social media (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) were conducted and results were compared. The analysis has shown that platforms are rather reluctant to change their posthumous policies. One of the primary triggers for change comes from the users' feedback. Across all three cases every platform provided limited or no information about these policies in their terms of use or privacy policies. The case studies demonstrated that users have very limited choices regarding their data after death directly on the examined social media platforms. Individuals who were close to the deceased account users have the ability to request account deletion or have limited access to the account granted by the platform. The level of data preservation demanded by platforms seems dependent on a given social media's communication specificity...