Research Review: Death Online - Alive and Kicking!

Authors

  • Stine Gotved The IT University of Copenhagen

Abstract

In recent years, the physical death, the related grief, and the ensuing memorials has become visible in the digital arena. As every other aspect of life is to be found online, so are death and the surrounding issues. The research into the area is not far behind, and using the approach of a timeline with different stakeholders, this research review offers a systematic way of keeping track. The rather simple timeline relates to the death of a person, there is before, just around, and after death, appropriately named in a dead language: Ante Mortem, Peri Mortem, and Post Mortem. This review deals exclusively with the digital context of the physical death of existing human beings, as opposed to, e.g., in-game death experience or memorials for fictional characters. These are no doubt interesting issues that deserve their own review, although we might need to put citation marks around "death".

Author Biography

Stine Gotved, The IT University of Copenhagen

Stine Gotved is Associate Professor in Digital Communication and Society at the IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark. With a background in Cultural Sociology, she earned her Ph.D. in Cyber Sociology back in 2000. Stine Gotved has been involved in the field of Internet Research since the very beginning and her research interests evolves around death online, digital culture, and virtual team performance

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Published

2023-09-27