What happens after we die? All dogs go to heaven, but all data eventually gets corrupted. Most online services are designed for the "happy path". Users never change name, gender remains fixed, spouses never divorce, and customers live forever. The real world is a tad more complicated. As the book puts it: When death occurs for users and platforms, it becomes a kind of glitch that reveals needs …
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There's an old joke about a man who reads his morning paper in bed. If he's not listed in the obituaries, he gets up to start his day. A few months ago I was checking my email in bed (always a bad idea) when the vanity alert I have for my name appeared. Google took great delight in telling me that "Terence Eden passed away peacefully..." I had a minor heart attack and continued reading, "...at …
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It's only part-way through the first chapter that you realise that this is all true! There really was a Premonitions Bureau running in the UK (albeit under the auspices of sensationalist reporters). People gave serious study to the idea that some people could foretell specific tragedies before they occurred. Books were written, television interviews were given, national campaigns were run. And…
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The last year has seen an overabundance of death. Some of us got chatting about the various people from the GovCamp community who have died recently, and how we could memorialise them. It used to be the case that we started every 'Camp with a reading of the rules. A gentle intro to let everyone be on the same page. The "rules" started out as: Whoever comes are the right people. Whatever…
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My friend died last month. When I was a lad, it seemed that I was always going to funerals for some ancient relative. Everyone looks old when you're a kid. But my friend wasn't old. He was about my age. He had a trendy, digital job. The funeral is done, the grief lingers on. What should I do now? Do I stop following his accounts? I don't want to. In part, because I don't want to think…
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