Remembering on Social Media 2

Dr Will Kurlinkus
Frances
Haugen:
Facebook
Whistle
Blower
Midterm Final Facts
and Requirements
Types of Memory

1. Individual/autobiographical: Memories in our heads.

2. Social: Private memories of those already related to one another—shared experiences
with friends and family.
3. Collective: Unconnected individuals remembering the same event—Kennedy
Assassination, 9/11.
4. Public: Remembering that happens out in the open, in public, often at a stabilitas loci—
public hearth=memorial
5. Anticipatory memory: thinking about the moments we are living in as things we’ll
remember later.
Museums & Memorials
Memorial
š Epideictic: looks at the past and celebrates,
warns about, mourns.
š Lays the groundwork for action or inaction
through emotion rather than critical thought
š Usually “redemptive” (even negative things
are transformed into positive ones)
š The sacred cannot be critiqued=a powerful
silencing/hiding move (vs. the gift shop?)
š Transforms the space around it into place
Museum
š Museumization: turns art, objects, everyday
things into something more—gives them
magical/mystical qualities (transforms them
into a “fetish”)
š Directly educational
š Collects, organizes, categorizes for study
š Read as the truth/the best
š More critical than the memorial (or at least
open to study)
OKC Memorial
Are there digital spaces that
maintain the same level of
sacredness as an in person
memorial?
Grieving and Mourning on Facebook

š Publishing comments, messages, wall posts, and photos provides Facebook mourners with a
quick outlet for their emotions and a means of timely group support
š These actions directly affect the online curation of the deceased’s self and memory and also
create an environment of competition among mourners.
š The “collaborative self” of Facebook identity=things you post, things others post, things you’re
tagged in, all interactions
š Memorialized accounts: originally deceased member’s account would be “memorialized”—
preserved in its current state so that no content or friends could be added or deleted; it would
be a digital archive of the deceased’s creation of content and interaction with others on the
platform. After 30 days, the account would be permanently deactivated. But soon changed in
2007 to be able to keep counts active indefinitely. People wanted to continue online
relationships with their dead loved ones.
š Continuing bond theory emerged in the 1990s (Rothaupt & Becker, 2007). It is a therapeutic
approach whereby the bereaved person maintains relationships with the deceased.
Types of Facebook Accounts for the
Deceased

• Active accounts: receiving an alert or greeting from the deceased’s profile is startling; one
participant said that it is like “seeing a ghost.” , it begins to resem- ble a multimedia guest
book that friends and family return to and update often during the first years after the passing
of a loved one.
• Removed Accounts. Person can go into the account and act as if he or she is the owner and
delete the account, whether or not this was the expressed wish of the deceased. Second, if
the official confirmation of a death and the proof of death are provided, Facebook
administrators will remove the account.
• Memorial Pages

social identity continues in the absence of the profile owner. the online identity is left in the
hands of the community and can be substantially altered. “Would he have wanted this?”
What do you want done
when you pass away?
How have COVID-19 deaths been
mourned/ memorialized online?
How should they be? How do we
deal with this collective trauma?
What is Memorable UX?
Narratability: The appetite to
participate in and recount
nostalgic stories about
designs.

š What and why do we

remember stories for
people?
š Behavioral residue:
something leftover after the
experience to act as a
platform for stories (a
souvenir, tshirt after running
a marathon, and I voted
sticker)
š Delighters are memorable:
small unexpected surprises
vs. expected rewards (hey
look what I got!) + Easter
Eggs (secrets/suprises
revealed with repeatd play)
Craft: The positive memories and
human connections gained from con-
tributing to the life cycle of an object.

š The IKEA effect: People value things more if they

took part in making them (even if a little bit)
š The ecology of care surrounding an object (its
aura+my grandma made this for me): connects
us to people across time
š Objects that age with grace
Connoisseurship: Sharing in
communal consumption and a taste
for playing with time that require
memorable rituals and traditional
knowledge as badges of membership

š Focusing and slowing

consumption (learning to
become a part of a
community): wine
tasting, chocolate
tasting, ritualizing, oreos,
blue moon beer
š Rewarding communities
of ”forensic fans”