mage credit: Flickr/SK)
How do we archive our memories on Facebook? What are proper ethics and etiquette around social media and death? What happens to our data after we die?

These are some of the questions Illinois Institute of Technology humanities professor Mel Hogan is delving into this fall with a class on death, memories, and archives in the digital age. As a communications academic studying the crossroads of technology and humanity, previously she has tackled big questions such as archiving absence, and where Big Tech and the environment intersect.

Ahead of the school year, Hogan answered questions via email on death, data, and digital humanities.

Chicago Inno: This fall you’re teaching a class called “Digital Death: Archives, Memories, Body, Decay” at IIT. Tell us a little more about what this class will explore.

We also look at the materiality of death – decay and pollution – by exploring body farms, cemeteries, and the toxic residues of e-waste.
Hogan: The class brings together a few threads that link archives, memories, bodies and decay. We do this by looking at theoretical issues like queer temporalities and the importance of forgetting, as well as practical concerns such as archiving web contents, managing digital assets (after death), and terms of use on social media platforms that delimit much of our digital – past and future – selves. We also look at the materiality of death – decay and pollution – by exploring body farms, cemeteries, and the toxic residues of e-waste.

(Courtesy of Mel Hogan)
Mel Hogan
A new aspect of our lives in the digital age is that it is nearly impossible to escape what happened in the past once it has been posted online. How do you ..

anticipate this will impact the future as people post more personal information at a younger age?

…