[Air-l] Thoughts wanted on online grief-community...

[Tasha Buch]

Dear subscribers on AIR-1:

I am working on my thesis project which concerns a case study in a Danish
virtual grief-community called Mindet.dk [English: The Memorial]. This
community is a possibility for bereaved to meet other people who have
lost a beloved one. The website contains functions as an official
guestbook, memorials, lighting candles and private fora.



In our contemporary society death and grief is experienced as taboo,
when these themes becomes private, personal experience. At the same time,
when it comes to death in the media there is almost no limit for
exploring this private subject. I undertake a theoretical exploration
of the ideas of community, death and griefing in our society, together
with an empirical study of community on Mindet.dk in order to find out
if the Internet can be a new space to fulfill a missing function in our
society.



I would very much like to hear from anyone who has experience or
interesting thoughts about what social aspects (positive, negative aswell as
paradoxical) the Internet can contribute to such a private theme as death and
grief.


Best,


Tasha Buch

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Tasha Buch
Graduate Student
Design, Media and Communication Program
IT-University of Copenhagen, Denmark


Email: tabu at itu.dk
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