AFTR
An internet-connected videocamera installed at a gravesite that streams video and audio from the grave to a mobile app, where it can be viewed by friends and family. The camera has a built-in speaker that allows the user to speak through it remotely, or play music from a playlist in the app. The app also allows users to record photos, videos, audio streams and text in a day-by-day "diary" view, and see timelapse footage of the gravesite over multiple days. A companion service, AFTR Messaging, allows people to record messages to send to their friends and family at preordained times after their death.
AFTR
<a href="https://www.aftr.live/">https://www.aftr.live/</a>
Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery
A mobile app designed to facilitate a self-guided tour of Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, GA. The app displays a map that shows the user's location as determined by GPS plus the location of points of interest within the cemetery. For each point of interest, the app provides a written and audio account of its history, so that the user may engage in a self-guided walking tour.
Rothrock Group, LLC
<a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/atlantas-oakland-cemetery/id384013520">https://apps.apple.com/us/app/atlantas-oakland-cemetery/id384013520</a>
Bonaventure Cemetery Tour
A mobile app designed to facilitate a self-guided tour of Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, GA. The app displays a map that shows the user's location as determined by GPS plus the location of points of interest within the cemetery. For each point of interest, the app provides a written and audio account of its history, so that the user may engage in a self-guided walking tour.
Bonaventure Historical Society
<a href="https://www.bonaventurehistorical.org/store/">https://www.bonaventurehistorical.org/store/</a>
Cairns
An artistic "soundwalk" for Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. It consists of eight audio recordings that are designed to be listened to on-site through a mobile device. Each recording includes some basic verbal directions, plus wordless singing and atmospheric sound effects.
Gelsey Bell
<a href="https://gelseybell.bandcamp.com/album/cairns">https://gelseybell.bandcamp.com/album/cairns</a>
CataCombo Sound System
A sound system designed to play music inside a buried coffin. Speakers embedded in the coffin lid (underground) connect to a computer server embedded in the gravestone (above ground), which displays the song that is currently playing on a small screen. A QR code on the gravestone connects to an online app that controls the playlist, using the streaming music service Spotify. The company's website has been defunct since 2015.
Pause Ljud & Bild
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150910031257/http://www.catacombosoundsystem.com/">https://web.archive.org/web/20150910031257/http://www.catacombosoundsystem.com/</a>
Cemetales
A mobile app designed to facilitate a self-guided audio tour of the Common Cemetery (Almen Kirkegård) in Aalborg, Denmark. The app displays a map that shows the user's location as determined by GPS, plus walking directions to a series of points of interest marked on the map. When the user comes within 20 metres of a point of interest, an audio recording plays. The user can also tap the point of interest on the map to see a written description and replay the audio recording. Some points of interest are hidden on the map, and so their audio recording plays unexpectedly. The audio recordings include historical information, emotional stories, poetry, music and atmospheric soundscapes.
Jakob Borrits Sabra
Hans Jørgen Andersen
Kasper Rodil
Sabra, J. B., Andersen, H. J., & Rodil, K. (2015). Hybrid Cemetery Culture: Making Death Matter in Cultural Heritage Using Smart Mobile Technologies. 2015 International Conference on Culture and Computing (Culture Computing), 167–174. https://doi.org/10.1109/Culture.and.Computing.2015.16
Companion Novel (meSch)
A prototype system for facilitating self-guided tours of a cemetery. The system is composed of two parts. The first part is a "book-like device" that the visitor carries with them as they walk around the cemetery. The second part is a network of sensors and speakers installed around the cemetery. When the sensors detect that a visitor with a book has approached one of installation sites, the speaker plays pre-recorded audio content about that location. By placing a magnetic "bookmark" on a different page of the book, the visitor can switch between different themes for the audio content. This prototype, created as part of the meSch project at Sheffield Hallam University, was later developed into the "Voices from the Trenches" installation for a WWI battlefield cemetery.
meSch project at Sheffield Hallam University
Ciolfi, L., Petrelli, D., Goldberg, R., Dulake, N., Willox, M., Marshall, M. T., & Caparrelli, F. (2013). Exploring historical, social and natural heritage: Challenges for tangible interaction design at Sheffield General Cemetery. Proceedings of NODEM 2013. Nordic Digital Excellence in Museums.
Dimensions in Testimony
An interactive museum installation that recreates the experience of talking to a Holocaust survivor about their experiences. A large display screen shows a video recording of a Holocaust survivor, sitting in a chair. Visitors can ask the survivor questions by speaking into a microphone, and the survivor will respond with a pre-recorded answer on the topic. Natural language processing is used to interpret the visitor's question and match it to the response. The recordings were made with 23 ultra-high definition cameras surrounding the interviewees in all directions to allow them to be displayed in three dimensions, although only two-dimensional versions of the installation have been employed as of March 2021.
USC Shoah Foundation
<a href="https://sfi.usc.edu/dit">https://sfi.usc.edu/dit</a>
Green-Wood Cemetery app
A mobile app designed to facilitate a self-guided tour of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. The app displays a map that shows the user's location as determined by GPS plus the location of points of interest within the cemetery. For each point of interest, the app provides a written and audio account of its history, so that the user may engage in a self-guided walking tour.
The Green-Wood Cemetery Historic Fund
https://www.green-wood.com/app/
Historic Oakland Cemetery
A mobile app designed to facilitate a self-guided tour of Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, GA. The app displays a map that shows the user's location as determined by GPS plus the location of points of interest within the cemetery. For each point of interest, the app provides a written and audio account of its history, so that the user may engage in a self-guided walking tour.
Historic Oakland Foundation
<a href="http://cp.wabe.org/post/historic-oakland-cemetery-releases-interactive-app">http://cp.wabe.org/post/historic-oakland-cemetery-releases-interactive-app</a>