Market Context

The Facebook memorial pages: Facebook can be contacted if someone has a friend or family member whose profile should memorialized.

Online Service:

Drop.io: Is comparable to a private blog. This online service allows to upload and share files. By creating an account (so called drop) every user can upload files and have a real time conversation with invited friends or colleagues. Each drop is not public and can be protected with a password. Nice features are conference call numbers, instant messaging with user looking at the “drop” and mobile content upload. Maximum content expiration is one year after last view.

Dropbox: Syncs the files on your computer with a online secure server. This allows the user to save a file on one place and access the content from every other computer that has dopbox installed. A public dropbox folder allows other user to save, share and edit files. Nice Feature: let you go back in time (to undo changed files).

Entrusted: With this website the user can make a will and decide which of the digital assets he/she wants to delete or transfer after passing away.

Online Service and Product:

Lifestudio: A external drive that backups data locally as well as online. Photos, videos, music and files are getting stored online in a “3D wall” with the goal to make the data easily accessible and shareable.

LifeGem – “A certified, high-quality diamond created from a lock of hair or the cremated ashes of your loved one as a memorial to their unique life”

Student Projects:

Presence and Absence: This beautiful kit made by Colm Keller allows couples to increase their long distance relationship. All the objects are made of natural material and are handcrafted.

Here and There: This project from Mimi Son (Hyunjeong Son) enables the user to store daily stories, like a digital diary, but also let secretly share the stories with only one other person. A object allows to switch between “Here” (the own story box) and “There” (browsing the partners diary).

Digital Remains: Michele Gauler assumes that the personal data gets stored on a network. A key (physical object with bluethooth connection) let you access the data.