What happens to our personal online information when we die? Not the easiest subject to confront, but the fate of our accumulated digital data and possessions takes on increasing importance as we shift progressively towards an all-digital culture. Your Digital Afterlife, from Peachpit, examines the numerous legal, cultural, and technical issues that could prevent access to these assets.
Co-authored by John Romano and Evan Carroll, the creators of TheDigitalBeyond.com, a leading online resource that explores death and digital legacy, Your Digital Afterlife is divided into two sections. The first introduces the risks that digital legacies face and current advances to help circumnavigate those risks. Part two walks readers through a practical step-by-step process to help secure different types of digital assets.
Many future heirlooms such as family photos, home movies, and personal letters now exist solely in digital form, and in many cases are stored using Flickr, YouTube, Gmail, and other popular services. There are not yet sufficient laws or social customs surrounding the issue of digital preservation, and if steps aren?t taken to make these resources available to loved ones, they could be lost forever.
From casual email users to hyper-connected digital dwellers, Your Digital Afterlife is designed to help secure assets for the next generation and perhaps even for posterity.
?Death is the final frontier of cyberspace?and this book provides a road map to the key issues, problems and future prospects for bridging this ultimate transition with dignity, security and grace,? said Daniel ?Dazza? Greenwood, Executive Director of the eCitizen Foundation.
About the Authors
John Romano and Evan Carroll are the founders of TheDigitalBeyond.com, a leading online resource that explores death and digital legacy. As researchers and speakers, they are devoted to helping individuals secure their digital assets for posterity. Their work has been covered by CNN, NPR, The New York Times, Obit Magazine, The Orlando Sentinel, and The Austin Chronicle. With backgrounds in design and information science, together they have over twenty years? experience making the web a more useful and enjoyable place.
About Peachpit
Berkeley-based Peachpit has been publishing the industry?s best-selling books on the latest in photography, graphic design, Web design and development, digital video, digital lifestyle, and general Mac computing since 1986. Its award-winning books, ebooks, videos and applications feature step-by-step explanations, time-saving techniques, savvy insider tips, and expert advice for computer users of all experience levels. It is the home of the internationally recognized Visual QuickStart Guide series, the design imprint New Riders
