Research Review: Death Online - Alive and Kicking!

In recent years, the physical death, the related grief, and the ensuing memorials has become visible in the digital arena. As every other aspect of life is to be found online, so are death and the surrounding issues. The research into the area is not far behind, and using the approach of a timeline with different stakeholders, this research review offers a systematic way of keeping track. The rather simple timeline relates to the death of a person, there is before, just around, and after death, appropriately named in a dead language: Ante Mortem, Peri Mortem, and Post Mortem. This review deals exclusively with the digital context of the physical death of existing human beings, as opposed to, e.g., in-game death experience or memorials for fictional characters. These are no doubt interesting issues that deserve their own review, although we might need to put citation marks around "death"

20 år med Tolkien: forandrede fællesskaber på nettet

In the last 20 years, online communities have changed profoundly. The development from well-defi ned entities into distributed networks is described through the lens of three case studies (1996, 2006, and 2016) of the same newsgroup (rec.arts.books.tolkien). In between these investigations, the more general changes are described – internet access is far more widespread, and the communication has moved from nerdy exchanges to mundane and mainstream. Today, the social media platforms are dominant, and while the studied fan culture on Facebook is represented primarily by commercial interests, the dedicated fan communities are found elsewhere, in fora still text based, asynchronous and with relative anonymity.</jats:p

Rumlige dimensioner i det sociale cyberspace

Stine Gotved: Spatial dimensions in social cyberspace The temporal and spatial dimensions of online communication establish the basic conditions for social life within cyberspace communities. Looking at the protocol-based constructions – whether they are communicating in real time or in asynchronous mode and whether they hold a shared location – it is clear that spatial construction matters for the sense of community. Parallel to offline life, the spatial dimensions in online communities are important for how the individual navigates, relates, and communicates. This article presents a typology of online space, in which three different kinds of spatial dimensions are defined. These three spatial dimensions can be found in most (if not all) online communities in varying degrees, and analysis of the patterns of spatial dimension within an online community provides useful information about the basic terms of social life within that community. The typology is discussed in light of Henri Lefebvre's work on spatiality and social space, in order to uncover the implicit inspirations as well as the limitations of his approach by the inclusion of offline spatial sociology. The typology presented here serves as an analytical tool to separate the different spatial dimensions of cyberspace, and hopefully holds the key to understanding many of the differences within online social life

Covid-19 and the mediatization of the funeral industry in Australia and Denmark

This article focuses on the mediatization of funeral practices and customer relations in a business with human care and contact at its centre: the funeral industry. We analyse the impact of Covid-19 on the use of digital media in a comparative study of the deathcare sector in Australia and Denmark. Using surveys within the national funeral industries, qualitative interviews with funeral directors, and news media archives for 2020–2021, we identify four areas of mediatization: adaptations of specific technologies; interactions with the bereaved; transformations of funeral rites; and communications beyond the funeral service. In conclusion, we suggest that the mediatization process is a negotiation of, on the one hand, the need and growing demand for digital media into a traditions-bound business, and on the other hand, the funeral directors’ wish to care for the bereaved families through tactile, in-person relationships and emotional support