An innovation in the cemetery?
Regular readers of this blog will know that I am a big fan of all things digital. The possibilities for connectivity and the scope for creativity are enormous. That said, the innovation below, from an American monumental mason, seems a bit much even for me. The company in question are offering a new service in ‘internet connected memorials’ where a QR code is added to the relevant gravestone. This code than then be scanned with a smartphone or tablet, and it will take the cemetery visitor directly to a personalised website for the deceased. The website can include the whole gamut of digital possibilities, from a standard obituary to a video messages. If you click on the image below it will take you to the product video, with its footage of a family outing to the graveside, along with Ipad.
Image:monuments.com
There’s no doubting that the technology is clever, and that some will find it helpful – so why am I so uncomfortable? Maybe it is the sense that a monument should mark another person’s passing, rather than acting as a gateway to their continued presence? In this regard I tend to find photos on tombstones a little strange too – since they necessarily capture the person at just one moment out of all their days on earth. To me a gravestone is a place to quietly remember a person’s past, rather than to interact with their digital present.
Am I being a digital dinosaur – or do others feel the same?
I wonder how long it will be before the technology used will become obsolete and/or the QR code becomes unreadable?
From a historical interest point of view something like that might be quite fun at Highgate. But I agree with your feelings of discomfort. Who decides what to put on the website? What if the family’s version of who that person was actually erases some aspects of their identity? A gravestone with a name, some dates and a clever poem is much simpler. There’s a very clever short ditty on a tomb near the big doors to the Galilee chapel in Durham cathedral. Have you seen it?
I haven’t – as I’ve never been to Durham. What does it say?
From one perspective, if I came across this for a relative I never knew, such as a grandfather, it could be very meaningful. The first picture I ever saw of my maternal grandfather was on his grave stone.
Fair point Greg. I don’t think there is anything WRONG with photos on gravestones…just that I don’t actually relate to them. My problem, I guess!
I agree with Nancy that this technology will become obsolete long before the gravestone has crumbled to indecipherability. Telephonic global positioning is getting very close to being sufficiently accurate for a simple app that can say “you are currently standing on the grave of John Doe – click the link to see his facebook page now!”
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