Rest in Pixels – BBC Three Documentary – How To Create and Control Your Own Digital Legacy

Late last year I did some filming with a crew for a BBC Three documentary, Rest in Pixels. This documentary delved into the world of death in the context of our online footprint, our online representation, and how this lives on after we die. Not only that though, it also explores how we can create and control our digital legacy, and how we can continue to post online seemingly from beyond the grave. You will hear me talk about how I am creating my own digital legacy, in my case I want to write a series of blog posts to be posted at a set interval after my death, as well as to create a legacy video, almost like a mini documentary of my life, so that I will always live on. My blog posts will stay online, as will my social media accounts, so I will live on in that sense; but more than that, I want people to be able to get to know me, who I was and all about me as a person, even though I will no longer be living. The video will also serve as a digital memory box of my life for my family, full of memories, stories, photos, videos, music and more, almost like a documentary of my life, but only including the bits I want people to remember me by. Simply my family being able to hear my voice and see me as who I was in life; all of these are reasons for creating my own digital legacy, blog posts and my legacy video. 

The documentary was very interesting to film, I learnt a lot and it gave me many ideas for my own digital legacy. I hope it will get everyone thinking about digital legacies and your digital footprint/digital representation that is left behind. 

You can watch the documentary on the BBC Three YouTube or on the BBC iPlayer, but I have embedded the video here to make it simpler to watch for you all. 

There are now over 30 million dead people on Facebook, so what happens when we leave that digital representation of ourselves behind? This film delves into the explosion of ways in which to store, advance, digitise and personalise our very own digital legacies. From avatars and holograms, to androids and algorithms that can tweet on our behalf from beyond the grave. We are now no longer resting in peace, we are resting in pixels.

To learn more about your social media posts, how you can have things posted on your accounts after you have passed away, how you can download your social media data and more, go to www.deadsocial.org created by James Norris who is also featured in the documentary.