The Digital Departed: How We Face Death, Commemorate Life, and Chase Virtual Immortality

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Nilou Davoudi

Nilou Davoudi is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) in the School of Information (iSchool). Her doctoral research focuses on the impact of digital platforms on grief processes, digital remains (including photos, videos, and messages left behind by deceased users), and the ethicalities of the rising digital death industry. Her research encompasses exploring how social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok are utilised for mourning and memoria practices; the need for critical social and legal norms to guide access, ownership, and privacy of digital remains; and considerations for societal and theoretical discourses surrounding digitally memorialising the dead. Nilou’s doctoral research amplifies the necessity for considering how and why online platforms are used as memorial spaces, and whether current regulations in Canada adequately protect the digital dignity of the dead and the rights of their survivors.