How to Delete the Dead: Honoring Negative Affective Experiences with Postmortem Data

Abstract

Formative experiences in human lives are often unpleasant. Yet social technologies today are designed to presume positive experiences; 'design for delight' is even a principle in user interface development. So when humans have negative life experiences like the loss of a loved one, which often include technology-related tasks, the designs of their technologies can exacerbate that negativity. It is these negative experiences---interactions that trigger negative affects related to human sadness or distress---that design and engineering can and must honor. My dissertation will frame death as a key example of a difficult life experience that often requires digital interactions and digital tasks, yet currently lacks adequate tools to facilitate compassionate and meaningful interactions in a digital context. Incorporating empirical work in human-computer interaction with roots in cultural anthropology, I propose a project that will examine the role of ritual in technologically mediated human interactions during times of grief. Through interviews, participant observation, and tech support, I will create ritual-based practices around postmortem data that will honor the experiences people have of the presence of the deceased within that data, while maintaining the necessary control or closure of accounts that may be preferred.