Title
Stewarding a legacy: responsibilities and relationships in the management of post-mortem data
Abstract
This paper extends research on the giving and inheriting of digital artifacts by examining social network site accounts post-mortem. Given the important role that social network sites play in online bereavement practices, we conducted a series of in-depth qualitative interviews to explore issues around inheritance and post-mortem data management of Facebook accounts. We found that participants focused less on ownership of the data, and instead on the duties and potential conflicts associated with maintaining an account post-mortem. Subsequently, we argue for 'stewardship' as an alternative to inheritance for framing post-mortem data management practices. Analysis of post-mortem data management activities highlights how stewards are accountable and responsible to the deceased and various survivors. However, weighing competing responsibilities is complicated by varied relationships with disparate survivors, as well as the inability to consult with the deceased. Based on our findings, we claim that post-mortem solutions need to account for the needs of stewards in addition to those of the deceased and survivors. We suggest that a model of stewardship better accounts for the interpersonal responsibilities that accompany online data than inheritance alone.
Year
DOI
Venue
2014
10.1145/2556288.2557059
CHI
Keywords
Field
DocType
social network site,account post-mortem,social network site account,post-mortem data management activity,post-mortem solution,post-mortem data management practice,online bereavement practice,facebook account,post-mortem data management,online data,death,qualitative study
Framing (construction),World Wide Web,Interpersonal communication,Social network,Digital legacy,Computer science,Public relations,Qualitative interviews,Digital artifact,Qualitative research,Data management,Multimedia
Conference
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
23
1.02
9
Authors
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Jed R. Brubaker132331.02
Lynn Dombrowski211310.45
Anita M. Gilbert3231.02
Nafiri Kusumakaulika4231.02
Gillian Hayes51852155.64