Tuesday, October 31, 2006 Cabaero: Online obituaries By Nini B. Cabaero Beyond 30
TECHNOLOGY has touched many aspects of life — from the way we communicate to the way we send a son’s school allowance. Much had been written about the impact of technology on our daily lives.
It is unavoidable then that technology, the Internet in particular, would touch too on the way people die. I’m referring to the new ways of announcing a passing away and of expressing grief; these new ways are being made possible by technology.
An online obituary is a website that could be accessed from a computer connected to the Internet. On the website, the announcement of a loved one’s passing is posted and can be accessed from anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week or until the material is removed.
On most online obituary websites, they have more than mere announcements. They have the facility where people who knew the deceased could post photos or write about their recollection of happy times together. Those with condolences for the family may send their messages by e-mail or post them in the eulogy board.
It is a way of sharing the grief without going to the wake for the dead or to the burial. It is a way of bridging the distance through electronic means to express condolences for the passing on of a friend or a loved one.
Another feature of an online obituary is the searchable database where a website visitor has only to type the name of the deceased in the search box to get the related information.
One such website is www.legacy.com that hosts the online obituaries of 300 American newspapers. An interesting feature of the website is its “Moving Tribute” portion where family and friends of a deceased can share photos, music, text or a recorded message. It is a tribute that can be moving in more than one sense. It carries special features on soldiers killed in the Iraq war and on victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Whenever a national icon dies, its “National Spotlight” column is updated with the latest on the death.
The Sun.Star website at www.suntar.com.ph has its own version of an online obituary. (To go to the section, click on the Obituary icon found on the left panel of the website homepage.)
It has a free database of obituaries taken from the newspaper and posted online, and a facility where the deceased’s loved ones can post photos and eulogies.
With families spread out throughout the globe and children separated from parents working abroad, a death in the family need not be suffered alone.
Grief from the loss of a loved one can be shared beyond physical boundaries via an online obituary.
