There were days long ago when friends would send out a birthday card followed by a winter holiday card (Hanukkah or Christmas or whatever) and they would write a few paragraphs or if they had an ego the size of mine they would include a chummy newsletter that let the friend know all that had happened since we had last seen each other. Sometimes we would include a photograph just to show we were indeed aging but still alive or to prove that our children and grandchildren were the most beautiful in the world. These little histories might be tucked away in shoe boxes and if we stopped sending out mail our children or family would send out the notice of our passing sometimes months later after finding our address book or upon receipt of the letters at next year's holiday.
Grannie Annie commented in a past post about how hard it would be today to know why someone quit posting on a blog and how hard it would be to find out what happened to them. In this modern digital age our lives are played out on Facebook, Snapfish, Phanfare, Flicker, YouTube, et al. by us and by others with whom we wander down our life's path. Sometimes others may tell even more than we would like to share about us to their friends...many of whom we don't even know. Those who are more communicative and with a little larger sense of their lives go forward with Blogs or Web pages and tell friends, family and frequently anyone who would watch and read, including total strangers, all about their memories and activities and opinions.
Our modern lives are held in "clouds" of digital pixels on servers everywhere and anywhere. If I die tomorrow, not that I am going to, no one will be able to tell you that I died. If it is not a professional site such as a newspaper column, perhaps no one will edit, preserve or delete anything I have written. I have photo libraries stored in various places. Yahoo has indicated that upon the receipt of a copy of an official death certificate they will remove the account. Others have similar or no process in place. I have a twitter account which I rarely use and only started it to stalk my son; I have an FB account, even an old password protected blog site that I have used on rare occasions to post only family stuff for relatives. I even have old web pages somewhere that I created a long time ago and I can't even remember where those are! All of these are accessible with various passwords and unless I give a directive and tell family where the password list is, I will become a cloud of information myself.
Certainly a site such as Facebook would be easier to inform friends of an important change.
I am still fascinated by these digital words and photographs shared across the globe. Maybe some of this digital information will be useful to cultural archeologists or historical librarians, and in 100s of years, that which remains and can be uncovered will be sifted and analyzed and discussed. But this is not like great-grandma's letters...it is hidden and easily lost. Do any of you wonder about this stuff? Do you care?
Grannie Annie commented in a past post about how hard it would be today to know why someone quit posting on a blog and how hard it would be to find out what happened to them. In this modern digital age our lives are played out on Facebook, Snapfish, Phanfare, Flicker, YouTube, et al. by us and by others with whom we wander down our life's path. Sometimes others may tell even more than we would like to share about us to their friends...many of whom we don't even know. Those who are more communicative and with a little larger sense of their lives go forward with Blogs or Web pages and tell friends, family and frequently anyone who would watch and read, including total strangers, all about their memories and activities and opinions.
Our modern lives are held in "clouds" of digital pixels on servers everywhere and anywhere. If I die tomorrow, not that I am going to, no one will be able to tell you that I died. If it is not a professional site such as a newspaper column, perhaps no one will edit, preserve or delete anything I have written. I have photo libraries stored in various places. Yahoo has indicated that upon the receipt of a copy of an official death certificate they will remove the account. Others have similar or no process in place. I have a twitter account which I rarely use and only started it to stalk my son; I have an FB account, even an old password protected blog site that I have used on rare occasions to post only family stuff for relatives. I even have old web pages somewhere that I created a long time ago and I can't even remember where those are! All of these are accessible with various passwords and unless I give a directive and tell family where the password list is, I will become a cloud of information myself.
Certainly a site such as Facebook would be easier to inform friends of an important change.
I am still fascinated by these digital words and photographs shared across the globe. Maybe some of this digital information will be useful to cultural archeologists or historical librarians, and in 100s of years, that which remains and can be uncovered will be sifted and analyzed and discussed. But this is not like great-grandma's letters...it is hidden and easily lost. Do any of you wonder about this stuff? Do you care?
To answer your question first: yes I do. I'd hate for my drivel to get lost, although it will, to all intents and purposes, when I'm dead. Not that I have made any provisions, but there'll be nobody interested then, which means I disappear down that great cyberspace plughole which sucks in the vast spectral body of the outpourings of millions of us.
ReplyDeleteWhen nobody reads my drivel any longer, I will have vanished.
I spoke to a proper professorial historian with a string of books to his name about bloggers recently. He looked quite wistful. "You know", he said, " people like me will no longer be necessary. All the research I do will become obsolete. Everybody will be their own historian and all the stuff for which I need to dig so deeply, will just be availabe at the click of a mouse".
There was an interesting article on the topic of bloggers who die:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/magazine/09Immortality-t.html?_r=2&ref=magazine&pagewanted=all
I am quite affected when a blogger dies, one whom I have been following. We read each others' thoughts sometimes within minutes of publishing them, and that is a real vital link.
Yes, I care. Before my blogging days, I knew a fair number of people from trivia chat rooms and other parts of cyberspace whom I am certain would care, worry and wonder if I just disappeared. I made sure my cousin had their email addresses to inform them of my demise. I've given one person my blog password, but knowing him, it's long forgotten and misplaced. I think it's a good idea for someone to know. It only takes one person whom you trust. Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteYes I care. I've often wondered what will become of all the family notes I've kept, and my tiny blog space. Guess I should ask my daughter if she will post a sunshine on my shoulder & happy trails when I'm gone. I'm not at all sure it matters. It's been interesting for this searcher.
ReplyDeleteI passworded myself into one of those virtual worlds over a year ago and think my avatar is still floating around not conversing with anyone in the waiting area because I never could figure out how to enter into other rooms or places. I've forgotten the password even. Intensly embarassing.
ReplyDeleteMaybe on your 66th birthday the problem will be solved for me. (You can tell I've had great fun looking back through some of your posts and enjoy your blog very much!)
I posted also about this on December 30th of my blog. After having two end users of blogs that I followed pass away. The daughters posted about their passing. A while back I experienced two others passing - maybe 2006 or so. I only figured things out through the comments left by others.
ReplyDeleteI talked to my daughter about it. I told her to post something on my blog if I die so users would know.
It is uncanny when after reading a blog for years they just up and quit blogging. If I did not die, I would post a reason and that I was stopping at the very least because I know how it is to just keep wondering what the heck happened.
I too care about the ones I have met and I would be sad to not see their blog anymore. I would wonder what happened. Sigh! Hard to know what to do. All we can hope is, if it happened to me. That someone would let the blog world know. I'm just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteHugs
SueAnn
I have thought quite a lot about what happens to my blog when I die, and how the word will get out about what happened to me. I have mentioned to my daughter about posting that last post for me - but so far I have done nothing to ensure that will happen.
ReplyDeleteI do have a post title in my file of drafts - "To be opened in the event of my death" - but it is empty (so far) and no one but me knows how to post it anyway.
It is a puzzle. I enjoyed reading the article linked by your commenter Kerry.
Hi there....here from Pam's blog. Yes, I do think about all that. Having lived so long without all that stuff, I find it extremely amazing. Love it , tho.
ReplyDeleteI wonder about a blogger I was reading, she simply stopped access to her blog. Since I didn't know her personally, I can't reach her or read the blog. She is an interesting woman, I enjoyed "knowing" her through her blog. A lesson in letting go?
ReplyDeleteI've had a few days of being a bit "off" and feeling sorry for myself, and it is now good to be back on the computer and catching up with my blogging friends. So of course the truth is that we all do really connect in some special way. Thanks for a thoughtful and encouraging post. It makes me want to bestir myself and get back into a better zone.
ReplyDeleteI've had a few days of being a bit "off" and feeling sorry for myself, and it is now good to be back on the computer and catching up with my blogging friends. So of course the truth is that we all do really connect in some special way. Thanks for a thoughtful and encouraging post. It makes me want to bestir myself and get back into a better zone.
ReplyDeleteOut here in the wider blogging world, yes life and death wander by without details. I also have a blog at Open Diary, after several false starts in places like Xanga. There, one knows if you are ill....the word gets out. Your friends pass the news on. Other friends race to save your blog for themselves. To save your images so they don't' lose you.
ReplyDeleteI've had the sad task of taking down two blogs from two much loved friends there. After their death's I left them up for several months so everyone could read them if they wanted, then I deleted them by the families request.
One gentleman on OD was so important to us all that the man who owns the blog kept his blog up. I've gone back to read his last entry several times.
My G will take down my blogs on my death.
Interesting topic, I guess I've thought about it in passing but not in any real practical sense.
ReplyDeleteLooks like I've got some serious thinking to do!
I was born in '77 and grew up with the transition from paper archive and journaling to the digital library age. The birth of our digital world and the accompanying paradigm shift it brought fascinates me to no end.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in grade 13 I had several over-seas pen pals. I can clearly remember the growing anticipation between correspondences... checking the mailbox every day for weeks before getting that reply. It was wonderful in a way. Little did I know three years later I'd have a hotmail account where the same process would happen in seconds.
I feel fortunate to have experienced both a digital and non-digital life-experience. There's a lot to be said about each, and I feel bad for kids growing up today that can't fathom a world without internet or cloud computing.
This was a very thought provoking post. Thank you for sharing.
...went off on my own tangent up there :) To better answer your question; I do agree that digital information is more easily lost - to an extent. That is to say, if your writings are left on servers and long forgotten domains - even Facebook, who can remove your account and gain rights to your material at their whim - then this personal digital information is certainly at risk of being lost.
ReplyDeleteIf everything that goes online to blogs, facebook, flickr, and any other cloud computing avenue (ie a server) gets backed up on an external hard drive - to me that's just like storing letters in a shoebox, only not so susceptible to fire.
Yes, I wonder about it. I have a fear that I have so much content no one will care to go through it. I think a few letters or a year of posts (rather than 6) would be a glimpse that would still leave some intrigue. I find myself always asking the proverbial question "what's it all about Alfie?"
ReplyDeleteI just read all the comments here and guess I had never thought about leaving a password so someone could post a last entry for me but maybe I will now. I have always imagined and try to prepare myself for the pulling of the big plug and losing it all.
ReplyDeleteI had two blog friends who I must have offended who just stopped visiting and commenting. I still wonder about it and feel sort of sad. Another blog friend died and I still like to visit her blog and sometimes get hits that come from her blog and imagine all sorts of stuff. Sometimes when I stumble upon an old post that she commented on, I feel her and in some ways feels it keeps her alive.
A bit of synchronicity to this post - I am re-reading Contact by Carl Sagan and in it another intelligence uses our own TV broadcasts to connect to us. I like the idea of being a digital cloud. Such interesting thoughts you think! If you die before I do, let me know, will you?
ReplyDeleteI love the whole digital sharing and storage box thing but it can be pretty sad too because of the whole sentimental feeling thing.
ReplyDeleteThousands of years from now, only bytes of information would remain and if they get wiped out, there are other information somewhere, I assume. We just have to keep a record of everything.
I guess this all shows that we have an inner need to have a voice and to be heard. Blogging gives us that voice. We have a need to leave our mark, but marks fade away. Letters, like digital words, can be stored or lost or destroyed. The gardens we build will be overgrown without our care.
ReplyDeleteThe one tangible thing we have to leave behind is the manner in which we influence others..the relationships we build - good or bad - whether we do so face to face or across the intangible threads of web.
Very thought-provoking post, Tabor.