Scott Brown takes a look at what to do with your digital remains after you die. It's not something I think about often, but this is one of the odd latent effects of online social life. What is to become of all the Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, and eBay accounts once you pass on? Would you prefer they just be deleted? Passed on to someone else? Or just stay around like a cyber-ghost haunting those left behind. Another morbid thought, which, very thankfully I've not yet had to deal with, is what to do when someone you know passes away? Unfriending them in Facebook, for example, seems a bit cold and callous, but keeping their profile linked to you also seems like a depressing daily reminder.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/pl_scottbrown_digitalself

By day Joe works as a senior systems administrator at the University of Michigan, and by night he is a Technology Management PhD student at Eastern Michigan University's College of Technology. Joe is particularly interested in the transition to the Information Age and what effect it is having on social and organizational structures. His current studies are focusing on how the Newspaper industry is handling this transition. You can also follow Joe on Twitter at @joebauer or at his blog.