Information science and the inevitable

Information science and the inevitable: A literature review at the intersection of death and information management
Jesse David Dinneen | Maja Krtalic | Nilou Davoudi | Helene Hellmich | Catharina Ochsner | Paulina Bressel

Abstract

Death is an inevitable part of life and highly relevant to information management: its approach often requires preparation, and its occurrence often demands a response. Many works in information science have acknowledged so much, and yet death is rarely a focused topic, appearing instead sporadically and disconnected across research. As a result there is no introduction to, overview of, or synthesis across studies on death and information. We therefore conducted an extensive literature search and reviewed nearly 300 scholarly publications at the intersection of death and information (and data) management. Covering seven topics in total, we review two groups of work directly engaging information management in relation to death (digital possessions, inheritance, and legacy; information behavior, needs, and practices around death), three engaging death and technology that require information and its management (death and the Internet, thanatosensitive design and technology-augmented death practices, and the digital afterlife and digital immortality), and two reflecting the ethical and legal dimensions unique to death and information. We then integrate the collective findings to summarize the landscape of death-related information research, outline remaining challenges for individuals, families, institutions, and society, and identify promising directions for future information science research.