My student Jenny Tang just presented our work at
#chi26. We have been interested in post-mortem management of online accounts (1/5)
https://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/nicolasc/publications/Tang-CHI26.pdfGrossly simplifying: key finding is that older individual don't really care about their purely digital assets (pictures, etc). They do care about digital artifacts (e.g., email, etc) that could make it harder for their heirs to manage estate transmission. (2/5)
There is a growing need for estate planners with digital literacy. Shockingly, this is more often than not an afterthought. With GenXers/Xennials starting to get gray, there is -- in my opinion -- a real need here. (3/5)
A lot of us have completely moved all asset management online. I haven't been to my bank since 2005. Yet, a lot of estate planning does not account for, or even reflect that new reality. (4/5)
Anyway, I digress. Read Jenny's paper. It's illuminating. Older people are far from being digitally illiterate, and we are not serving their needs well at the moment. And we have to fix this, sooner rather than later. (5/5)