Memorializing our digital personae: eTombs

Interesting article over on TechNewsDaily.

We all knew that our various musings on the internet would be preserved a really, really long time.  It’s the way the net works.  Now, it looks like there might be a way soon to preserve a departed soul’s digital writings…forever.

While only a single test version has been made so far, the way the story is being echoed all over the net shows there is interest.  These “eTombs” look like a standard tombstone.  But they have a solar panel built into the top, a bluetooth device, storage media, and a battery.  Family members can upload a deceased person’s facebook page, tweets, and other random digital writing.  Once loaded, that writing is then broadcast to anyone’s smart phone.

See?  Your blog could live…long after you do.

I’m not sure I want great, great grandchildren reading this blog. 

Still, it’s an interesting idea.  For tens of thousands of years, we humans have shown a remarkable consistency in our desire to “send off” our departed loved ones with some of their most precious and dearly held things.  It’s a sign of the times, perhaps, that today that might be represented by a Facebook page, blog, and World of Warcraft screenshots.