Evanescent faces: A semiotic investigation of digital memorials and commemorative practices

Digital memorials appeared in the late 1990s and developed since then due to with the growing availability of digital technologies and the Internet. Commemorations and mourning have since diversified significantly in different digital memorial technologies: memorial websites, tribute pages, social networking sites, blogs and virtual commemorations on video games. Faces are central elements in digital memorials and commemorative practices, being it both inter-faces providing access to the memories of the dead and texts constantly invested by multifaceted interpretations and practices. The face thus becomes a tool for commemoration and mourning, supporting users’ experiences during the time surrounding death. Exploring the connection between memorialisation, face and digital technology, this chapter investigates digital memorials and commemorative practices and the meanings of faces within them. To do so, it first develops a semiotic-oriented framework for the design of digital memorials to ensure that digital technology remains centred on human needs and meanings. It then goes on applying this framework by analysing three kinds of digital memorials and commemorative practices, especially focusing on face-based ones: 1) institutional digital memorials; 2) open, creative and playful solutions to reimagine contested monuments and memorials; 3) institutional and vernacular digital-native commemorative practices.