Safeguarding your digital heritage

Current trends in the way people accumulate digital assets during their lifetime and how they are managed after death is the focus of a new collaborative research project at the University of Melbourne.

An area of growing concern, it has to date received little attention from researchers and policymakers.

Researchers from the Faculty of Arts and Department of Computing and Information Systems are providing Australians with vital information about the management of their digital heritage.

Findings from the project, funded by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), may be used to assist digital media companies and government to formulate policy and regulations.

“Planning for what will happen to your online assets after you die is an increasingly urgent issue for Internet users,” says Michael Arnold from the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies.

Dr Arnold says that since the Internet has become a part of our lives, it has also become a part of dying and grieving, which has created new challenges for Internet users and policy-makers.

“Our project will lead to an evidence-based assessment of the challenges and implications which will help to inform policy discussions and regulations,” he says.

The team is producing educational material for consumers, some of which has already been published online.

“Internet users as consumers don’t currently have easy access to information about how to manage their assets and aren’t aware about what happens to their assets after they die,” says Craig Bellamy of the Department of Computing and Information Systems.

“Many people don’t realise an online account is usually a non-transferrable contract between a service-provider and an individual, which ends when the individual dies. So an online photo collection, for example, could be lost forever if the owner passes away and does not make local copies or transfer access details to a loved one,” Dr Bellamy says.

The project has produced a website called Digital Heritage which provides advice about preparing a ‘’digital will’’ and creating local archives. The full report from the project will be available mid-year.

In addition to Dr Arnold and Dr Bellamy, the research team includes Dr Martin Gibbs (Computing and Information Systems), Dr Tamara Kohn, (Social and Political Sciences) and Dr Bjorn Nansen, (Institute for Broadband Enabled Society).

Take control of your digital heritage. Five things to consider before you die:

1 Do you want future generations to have access to the files you store online?

Your files on services like Dropbox, Facebook and Flickr cannot be easily accessed nor found unless you provide your next-of-kin with locations, usernames and passwords. If you want to ensure your next-of-kin have access to your data, you should consider regularly downloading and archiving data on local drives as many online services may not be in business forever.

2 What do you want done with your accounts? 

Upon your death, it is important to consider what data you would like to remain available and what data you would like deleted.  Some data, such as emails, is highly personal and you may not wish it to become available to family nor friends.

Decide if you want your online accounts and websites deleted, memorialised, or kept open. These accounts can include cloud storage sites, blogs, social networking profiles, auction sites and shopping accounts. Keep a record of your accounts with instructions somewhere secure, nominate someone to carry out these instructions and include the information in your will.

3 Are any of your online assets worth money?

Some of your digital assets may be in credit, or may be generating revenue or have a resale value. These can include websites which display advertising, PayPal accounts, Skype accounts, photos or domain names. These should be included in your will like any other asset you own which is worth money.

4 Would you like an online memorial?

Online memorials have become increasingly popular and a number or companies now offer online memorial products and services. And after supplying them with the correct evidence of death, social media companies such as Facebook can also memorialise profiles. Memorials may also be set up independently on a website or blog.

An online memorial can be used as an addition to a traditional memorial, such as a gravestone, and can act as an on-going meeting place for friends and relatives to gather, grieve and celebrate the life lived. It may also include photos and videos and other autobiographical material and many people even create a video for their online memorial before they pass away.

5 Have you told loved ones about the contents of your will?

Treat your digital assets as you would the rest of your belongings and tell those close to you what you what done with them so there won’t be any surprises.

Learn more about the project at 

www.digitalheritage.net.au