A new clinic at the University of Colorado Boulder is helping people preserve their digital presence, including social media accounts, so loved ones can still access it when they no longer are alive.
"One of the biggest issues when it comes to end-of-life issues with technology is that people don't know what to do. They don't even know where to begin," said Jed Brubaker, associate professor of information science at CU Boulder. "They know they have an issue but they don't know what the next step is. And that's where we can step in."
RELATED STORY | Why companies may sell your data to third parties
Brubaker founded the Digital Legacy Clinic, which helps people navigate through the technological unknowns that may come with managing their own or a loved one's digital presence.
"The average internet user has over 190 accounts, and they're producing over 850 gigs of data per year. And that's just a lot of information," Brubaker explained. "When we think about how life has become digital, that is our photos, those are messages to loved ones, those are our diaries and our scrapbooks and our personal history. And I think it's really important that we don't let that be forgotten or lost."
A group of 12 undergraduate and graduate students are already busy helping people with requests. Senior Josie Mahoney is working with the clinic in hopes of helping people understand the need to preserve one's data.
RELATED STORY | What happens to your digital assets when you die?
"I actually have lost loved ones who have passed away, and they still have their comments up on my Instagram," Mahoney explained. "And it's so lovely to be able to go back and be like, 'Okay, they commented that,' and to see. Kind of like it's a forever memorial wall really... it's a lot more important than people really put an emphasis on."
When people think of their time spent on the internet, they may not realize the large number of accounts made for emails, games, and social media pages, which is one place where the Digital Legacy Clinic can help.
"We have a bunch of tickets that are really interesting of what people want to memorialize, what they want to keep or what data they want to download," Mahoney explained. "So we can just be able to kind of look it over, go through our own research of how we know how to memorialize or how to delete or anything you want to do the account and then we can just walk you through it."
RELATED STORY | How was the internet created?
Rory O'Flynn, a student in the Digital Legacy Clinic, designed the website page and expressed the need for this technological support.
"I think it's the fact that it's going to affect everybody. Like, everybody is going to deal with somebody having passed away or dying themselves, and the data is going to be left behind," she said.
This dedicated group is eager to help more people and help make the process easier for others, whether it is creating an end-of-life digital plan or helping access a loved one's digital accounts.
"The more the merrier. Come and get some help," said Brubaker.
This story was originally published by Maggy Wolanske at Scripps News Denver.
