UvA | March 7th, 2023

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In the first iteration of Haunting the Digital, participants discussed the concept of the haunting digital, shared theoretical or personal examples, and speculated rituals for caring, conserving, translating, and letting go of digital objects.

Losing someone generates a materiality of absence, be that letters, photographs, and a person’s belongings, and now of late, digital objects such as photos on one’s phone and clouds, WhatsApp messages, voice messages, social media accounts, and emails.

These objects (and data) evoke comfort and connection as well as a sense of haunting. Digital things exist between the material and immaterial, always present in mobile devices while vulnerable to deletion. Losing the last WhatsApp messages sent by loved ones because of an app update, losing a phone with precious photos and videos, visiting the social media accounts of people missing, and texting with the dead are all contemporary grief-related experiences.

How can technology capture the essence of someone who has passed? What are the limitations? Can AI translate the materiality lost?