{"id":1125,"date":"2017-04-03T00:53:11","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T00:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/?p=1125"},"modified":"2017-04-03T00:56:48","modified_gmt":"2017-04-03T00:56:48","slug":"who-owns-the-story-of-your-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/2017\/04\/03\/who-owns-the-story-of-your-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Owns the Story of Your Death?"},"content":{"rendered":"

While reading, \u201cLarger Than Life: Digital Resurrection and the Re-Enchantment of Society,\u201d by Alexandra Sherlock, I was struck by the example that Sherlock used of Bob Monkhouse\u2019s \u201cresurrection\u201d for use in a campaign for prostate cancer research. However, instead of celebrities that were famous for their work before death, I thought of when public awareness campaigns are formed around the deaths of ordinary people. Some of these stories go viral and the deceased become famous after death. An example of this I thought of was a letter that went viral this fall in which a woman shared a letter her drug addict daughter sent to her attempting to explain her addition to her mother. In reading the letter, I found it to be a compelling call for empathy and for the necessity of further access to care for those struggling with addiction. However, at the same time, I felt a little uncomfortable reading the letter. Sure, they had changed the woman\u2019s last name, but otherwise this was an incredibly personal account of her life that she did not consent to being broadcast across the internet. There are many similar campaigns like this from parents, families, or friends where names are not changed and they become famous after their death for mistakes made during their lives. While undoubtedly these campaigns have the potential to make a positive difference in many lives, I can\u2019t imagine I would particularly want details of my private struggles to be used without giving it the ok. Moreover, in contrast with the celebrities described in Sherlock\u2019s piece, I can\u2019t imagine laws being put in place that determine the fates of these people\u2019s stories after their lives since money isn\u2019t likely involved. I also can\u2019t imagine that families already dealing with a crisis like alcoholism or addiction have much time for conversations about how private they wish their stories to remain if they are no longer around to lay claim to them.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A screenshot of the closing of a letter from a dead drug addict to her mother.\u00a0www.vice.com\/en_au\/article\/heroin-addiction-needles-exchange-lost-daughter-dear-mom<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Works Cited<\/p>\n

Elliot, Elizabeth. \u201cDear Mum, This Is Why I\u2019m Addicted: A Letter from a Lost Daughter.\u201d Vice<\/em>, 3 Oct 2016. www.vice.com\/en_au\/article\/heroin-addiction-needles-exchange-lost-daughter-dear-mom<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sherlock, Alexandra. \u201cLarger Than Life: Digital Resurrection and the Re-Enchantment of Society.\u201d The Information Society, <\/em>vol. 29, no. 3, pp164-176.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While reading, \u201cLarger Than Life: Digital Resurrection and the Re-Enchantment of Society,\u201d by Alexandra Sherlock, I was struck by the example that Sherlock used of Bob Monkhouse\u2019s \u201cresurrection\u201d for use in a campaign for prostate cancer research. However, instead of celebrities that were famous for their work before death, I thought of when public awareness … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Who Owns the Story of Your Death?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[148,146,147,149],"class_list":["post-1125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-group-b","tag-addiction","tag-alexandra-sherlock","tag-elizabeth-elliot","tag-ownership-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1125"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1130,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125\/revisions\/1130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}