identity of the dead – digital afterlife experiences

Dana Boyde posted this about events unfolding surrounding the death of Christine Dao a Junior at Berkeley this week.

There is no good way to mourn the loss of someone young, but what fascinates me about these messages on Christine’s Profiles is that they are all written to her but visible for everyone to see. A persistent, public signal of mourning. Her friends are speaking _to_ her, not about her…What does it mean to write persistent comments for the dead? Is it a sign of respect, of public remembrance? I hope so. Rest in peace Christine.

I wonder how our mourning rituals will change as we become more ‘presence on the web? How will our digital identities live on.
My mother passed away almost 11 years ago now (the year before I was a freshman at Cal [Berkeley]). If you google for her she does not exist in that medium. I have thought several times over the years about making an online memorial to her and the work that she did. Inviting those who knew her to perhaps reflect publicly on her life and the impact that she had on them.