Despite the potentially significant consequences of losing access to personal digital possessions, such as the archive of a beloved local newspaper, a vital online forum, or irreplaceable digital photos, this topic remains under-researched.
This is a participatory research study that endeavors to better understand how users describe and make sense of these experiences and their effects. The intent of the project is to think alongside a wide group of collaborators, utilizing a range of arts-based tools of inquiry, to expand how we understand the ways “data deletion” events linger and resonate in the lives of users, including through in-person responses to writing prompts and oral storytelling.
To be considered, the only requirement is to have “lost'“ a virtual possession. This may include, but is certainly not limited to the following:
photos, videos, voice notes, journals, drafts of writing, a blog post, music, art, coding projects, design files; email threads, text conversations, direct messages, playlists, collaborative docs; blog posts, playlists; notes, bookmarks, calendars, to-do lists.