Screen shot from Minal Panchal's profile on Orkut.com~ Freemind Pictures
Can the page you create for yourself on a networking site become your own online memorial?
Can the fact you are a member of an online community emotionally connect with total strangers in the event of your demise? This seems to be the case in the tragic death of Minal Panchal. She was one of the 32 lives taken by a crazed student who went on a shooting spree in the Virgina Tech Campus, before turning the gun on himself.
For the first two days, the media reported Minal Panchal (26) a first year student at Virginia Tech missing while continuously reporting on the death of Indian Professor G V Loganathan (51). As the hours passed, her name spread from one news media to the next resulting in a search for her in the only place people could - "online." The search led to her Orkut profile (a Google networking site) by netizens across the world. The media had no information about her, excpet for testimonials written by her friends on her profile page.
At first messages posted were by friends, asking her to confirm that she was safe, later it quickly turned to condolence messages as the media confirmed her death. From a few hundred scraps, the number of messages have reached 16682 and still counting. Thousands of friends and more importantly strangers who only came to know of her from the news media are posting messages on her profile. What was it about her that connected to the thousands of strangers only linked by the fact they were members of the same networking site?
It is a reflection of changing times where society is redefining the concept of condolence books to using Internet sites as a medium of online mourning. While, students in the United States used Facebook and other networking sites, netizens in Asia logged into Orkut to pay their respects.
The Internet continues to change the way people live their lives. Now it goes one step further. When people sign up into networking sites, they create a page for others to link up and exchange online messages, share videos & photographs and even write testimonials about each other. They even have forums for like minded people to join and discuss issues and events.
Today, it has undergone a transformation as a self created page which has the potential in the future to become an online memorial to yourself, where family, friends and acquaintances from around the world could meet up to share their grief and comfort each other in the event of your death. An errie thought, but a very realistic one.
It may all have to do with the very fact, Orkut users were able to see a picture, a profile to which they would relate too. The little details of her life, such as her likes, dislikes, characteristics, hobbies all filled in by Minal herself or her friends gave her an identity which made her more than a mere number in the list of causalities. "Unintentionally that opened doors for people to be more connected to her death. Its made it more personal for you and me. More real!" ~Nefere
This will not be the last of the outpouring of grief for a victim on a networking site. As the Internet gets more and more public, we allow ourselves to become part of an online world where we do not have to be celebrities to be noticed, but by virtue of being a member perhaps in the future people around the world will share your joys, sorrows and even grieve for you at your passing. The photo albums, videos, blogs and profiles would be the online memorials for people to visit as tribute to the works and life of another common person that they could relate too in a virtual world.
Grief knits two hearts in closer bonds than happiness ever can; and common sufferings are far stronger links than common joys. ~Alphonse de Lamartine (French writer & poet)
Related Articles:
Missing Mumbai student dead - Mumbai Mid Day
Korean’s rage kills city girl Minal Panchal in US shootout - DNA (Mumbai)
Minal's dreams brought her to Virginia Tech from Mumbai - Times of India
Virginia Tech Shooting Leaves 33 Dead - The New York Times
IITians lose one of their 'brightest' - Times of India
Can the fact you are a member of an online community emotionally connect with total strangers in the event of your demise? This seems to be the case in the tragic death of Minal Panchal. She was one of the 32 lives taken by a crazed student who went on a shooting spree in the Virgina Tech Campus, before turning the gun on himself.
For the first two days, the media reported Minal Panchal (26) a first year student at Virginia Tech missing while continuously reporting on the death of Indian Professor G V Loganathan (51). As the hours passed, her name spread from one news media to the next resulting in a search for her in the only place people could - "online." The search led to her Orkut profile (a Google networking site) by netizens across the world. The media had no information about her, excpet for testimonials written by her friends on her profile page.
At first messages posted were by friends, asking her to confirm that she was safe, later it quickly turned to condolence messages as the media confirmed her death. From a few hundred scraps, the number of messages have reached 16682 and still counting. Thousands of friends and more importantly strangers who only came to know of her from the news media are posting messages on her profile. What was it about her that connected to the thousands of strangers only linked by the fact they were members of the same networking site?
It is a reflection of changing times where society is redefining the concept of condolence books to using Internet sites as a medium of online mourning. While, students in the United States used Facebook and other networking sites, netizens in Asia logged into Orkut to pay their respects.
The Internet continues to change the way people live their lives. Now it goes one step further. When people sign up into networking sites, they create a page for others to link up and exchange online messages, share videos & photographs and even write testimonials about each other. They even have forums for like minded people to join and discuss issues and events.
Today, it has undergone a transformation as a self created page which has the potential in the future to become an online memorial to yourself, where family, friends and acquaintances from around the world could meet up to share their grief and comfort each other in the event of your death. An errie thought, but a very realistic one.
It may all have to do with the very fact, Orkut users were able to see a picture, a profile to which they would relate too. The little details of her life, such as her likes, dislikes, characteristics, hobbies all filled in by Minal herself or her friends gave her an identity which made her more than a mere number in the list of causalities. "Unintentionally that opened doors for people to be more connected to her death. Its made it more personal for you and me. More real!" ~Nefere
This will not be the last of the outpouring of grief for a victim on a networking site. As the Internet gets more and more public, we allow ourselves to become part of an online world where we do not have to be celebrities to be noticed, but by virtue of being a member perhaps in the future people around the world will share your joys, sorrows and even grieve for you at your passing. The photo albums, videos, blogs and profiles would be the online memorials for people to visit as tribute to the works and life of another common person that they could relate too in a virtual world.
Grief knits two hearts in closer bonds than happiness ever can; and common sufferings are far stronger links than common joys. ~Alphonse de Lamartine (French writer & poet)
Related Articles:
Missing Mumbai student dead - Mumbai Mid Day
Korean’s rage kills city girl Minal Panchal in US shootout - DNA (Mumbai)
Minal's dreams brought her to Virginia Tech from Mumbai - Times of India
Virginia Tech Shooting Leaves 33 Dead - The New York Times
IITians lose one of their 'brightest' - Times of India
1 comment:
damn she shares same name as mine...xcept da 'i'...:P rip gurl...
Post a Comment