The Living and the Dead: Community in the Virtual Cemetery

Roberts, Pamela

doi:10.2190/d41t-yfnn-109k-wr4c

Cited by 80 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Especially given ease of accessibility and the comparative vividness of the deceased individual's presence, it is not surprising that people are visiting virtual memorial sites more frequently than they do physical cemeteries (Roberts, 2004). As presented above, research participants explicitly spoke of visiting Facebook as being more satisfying and carrying more of a feeling of connectedness than did visiting the grave or a physical memorial.…”

Section: Continuing Bonds In the Age Of Social Networkingmentioning

confidence: 98%

Continuing bonds in the age of social networking: Facebook as a modern-day medium

Kasket

2012

Bereavement Care

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As Facebook's popularity grows and endures, many profiles are becoming gravemarkers of the dead, scattered among the profiles of the living. The integration of Facebook usage into many people's everyday lives makes it unsurprising that ongoing interaction by the living with deceased persons' profiles is increasingly commonplace, but this is little studied. This research undertook qualitative document analysis of 943 posts on five 'in-memory-of' Facebook groups and an interpretative phenomenological analysis of three interviews with bereaved Facebook users. Four themes arose:(1) modes of address, (2) beliefs about communications, (3) experience of continuing bonds, and (4) nature and function of the Facebook community. The article has a threefold aim: (1) to contextualise the findings within a sociologically focused version of the continuing bonds theory of bereavement; (2) to argue that Facebook, as a modern-day 'medium', may supplant more traditional 'mediator deathworkers'; and (3) to enhance bereavement professionals' awareness and understanding of bereavement in an age increasingly marked by technologically mediated relationships, and to thus inform clinical practice.

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Section: Continuing Bonds In the Age Of Social Networkingmentioning

confidence: 98%

Continuing bonds in the age of social networking: Facebook as a modern-day medium

Kasket

2012

Bereavement Care

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“…There is a noted reciprocal relationship between online practices and concepts in death studies, including disenfranchised grief, private grief, and grief narratives (Walter et al, 2012). Recent studies have examined Web memorialization of the dead; the design and development of Internet-based interventions for the bereaved; the use of online surveys to collect information from the bereaved; and how social networking sites intersect with the grief process (Dominick et al, 2009;Hieftje, 2012;Roberts, 2004;Tolstikova & Chartier, 2009).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Grieving Online: Newcomers’ Constructions of Grief in an Online Support Group

Varga

Paulus

2013

Death Studies

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Research into peer conversations in online grief support groups remains scarce. The authors used discourse analysis to examine 107 initial posts to one such group to examine how newcomers constructed their initial posts to display their eligibility for membership. The authors identified three discursive features: formulating unusual stories of loss, describing uncontrollable emotional and physical states, and engaging in "troubles telling." These discursive patterns illustrate how grief is constructed in ways that may simultaneously conform to and resist norms around grief that exist offline. Implications for practitioners include the need to support individuals through validation of their "nonnormal" grief.

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“…These were often posted on the deceased's online profi le page or a memorial page-sometimes called "Sorry Pages". These online memorials or "virtual cemeteries" (Roberts, 2004) are on the increase on social network sites. Sorry Pages allow for informal and personalized commemorative and memorialization practices.…”

Section: Grieving and Healingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“It's like Going to a Cemetery and Lighting a Candle”: Aboriginal Australians, Sorry Business and social media

Carlson

Frazer

2015

AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples

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Death and funeral practices are a constant presence in many Aboriginal Australians’ lives—research in some communities found they are eight times more likely to have attended a funeral in the previous 2 years than non-Aboriginal people. This can be explained by two major factors: inordinately high rates of Aboriginal mortality and cultural practices around death (broadly referred to as Sorry Business). Research in other contexts has found traditions once reserved solely for face-to-face interactions are now also taking place online on social media. This paper draws from interviews conducted with Aboriginal social media users from New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia to explore new cultural expressions of Sorry Business. Drawing from Indigenous standpoint theory as both an entry point for inquiry and a tool for analysis, this paper demonstrates that Aboriginal people participate in a diverse range of online practices related to Sorry Business, including notifications of deaths and funerals, offering condolences and extending support, and grieving and healing.

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The Living and the Dead: Community in the Virtual Cemetery

Cited by 80 publications

References 18 publications

Continuing bonds in the age of social networking: Facebook as a modern-day medium

Continuing bonds in the age of social networking: Facebook as a modern-day medium

Grieving Online: Newcomers’ Constructions of Grief in an Online Support Group

“It's like Going to a Cemetery and Lighting a Candle”: Aboriginal Australians, Sorry Business and social media

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