Dying, Death and the Afterlife in Human-Computer Interaction. A Scoping Review.

Literature Title

Dying, Death, and the Afterlife in Human-Computer Interaction: A Scoping Review

Literature Information

• Subject Area: Death, dying experiences, and digital legacy in the field of Human-Computer Interaction
• Keywords: Death, thanatosensitivity, digital legacy, loss, grief, remembrance, technology design, good death, grief coping

Research Background and Issues

• Identified Problems or Challenges: People generally fear and avoid discussions about death, leading to insufficient preparation and dialogue on the topic. Meanwhile, with the advancement of digital technologies, the experience of death has become increasingly intertwined with technology. However, existing technology designs tend to focus more on mourners rather than the dying individuals themselves, and lack exploration of critical aspects of death, such as personal autonomy and spiritual significance.

• Why It Matters: Death is an inevitable human experience. Studying how technology can improve the experience of dying can promote "good death" and healthy grief coping. Additionally, leveraging technology to construct digital legacies can help effectively preserve and pass on personal values and memories.

• Research Motivation and Related Work: This study aims to review existing "thanato-technologies" and explore the role of technology during the dying phase, post-death, and grief coping. It seeks to answer whether technology can shape a more positive experience of death.

Solution

• Proposed Solution: By following the PRISMA-ScR protocol, the study conducts a scoping review to extract technology support and practices related to "good death" from existing Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) literature, identifying new design possibilities and unexplored areas.

• Innovative Aspects: The research approaches "death" from a technological perspective, categorizing technological practices that impact the experience of death and grief. It introduces the concept of "thanatosensitivity" in design, analyzing technological support for digital legacy, remembrance, and grief coping, and proposes potential pathways to enhance the quality of death experiences.

• Implementation Steps and Techniques:

  • Search Scope: Conducted searches in the ACM Digital Library for studies related to death from 1990 to 2022.
  • Data Screening: Selected relevant literature (107 papers) through keyword expansion and two rounds of filtering.
  • Data Analysis: Categorized and extracted technological practices concerning dying individuals and mourners, summarized into three major themes (digital legacy, remembrance, grief coping).

Research Outcomes

• Specific Findings: The authors categorized the findings into three major themes, encompassing 18 types of technological support practices, including digital legacy management, memory construction, social support, and mourning rituals. They also observed that existing technological support primarily targets mourners rather than dying individuals.

• Advantages:

  • Provides a panoramic overview of technological interventions in the experience of death, offering a foundation for designing future death-related technologies.
  • Highlights the importance of "identity affirmation" for dying individuals and "meaning integration" for mourners in shaping the death experience.
  • Emphasizes the unique support technology offers for coping with complex grief, such as the application of the continuing bonds theory.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  • Digital legacy aids dying individuals in affirming personal values and extending their identity.
  • Technological support for mourners significantly improves grief coping, including social interaction, memory management, and mourning rituals.
  • There is still a lack of technological designs addressing autonomy and spiritual dimensions.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • Limitations:
    • The scope is primarily confined to the HCI field, potentially overlooking research from other disciplines.
    • Insufficient attention to cultural differences (e.g., non-Western death customs) and spiritual needs; existing designs lean towards technical support rather than holistic human-centered death experiences.
  • Future Directions:
    • Explore technological designs that better meet spiritual needs and autonomy during the dying phase.
    • Strengthen shared meaning-making between dying individuals and their families.
    • Further investigate how cultural diversity can inspire the design of death-related technologies.