Vol. 9 No. 1 (2022): Death, Dying and Participatory Media + Open Section

Social and digital media have increased the potential for developing participatory practices of – and formats related to – death and dying. But what exactly happens to the materiality, language and politics of death and dying, when ordinary citizens are increasingly able to bypass traditional institutions through user-driven participation in media production, circulation and design? Has the power to shape processes linked to  death  and dying shifted from established authorities to ordinary users or rather to media and platforms with their own logics, affordances and restrictions? Will participatory media cultures motivate a wider and more creative set of practices related to death and dying? In addressing these questions, this issue seeks to explore how/if user-driven engagement with media is changing, widening, reproducing or limiting existing practices of death and dying – and thus to what extent user-driven media participation can be a vehicle for diversifying how we die and mourn.