Chapter 8. Finding gaps and narrowing down a problem

Coming back to my ‘box’ I synthesized all the data collected and narrowed down the problem.

The funeral context:

• Burial grounds are running out of space, funeral costs are getting higher every year.
• Graveyards (cemeteries) are gradually being replaced by sustainable cost-efficient methods of disposal of human remains
• The acceptance of death as an inevitable outcome of life (or maybe as a continuation of life in a different form) is lower than decades ago.
• Physical death is “dissolving by eco-practices”.

Hypothesis:

• Digital could be the only place and tool for keeping memories and a family tree to create virtual immortality.
• Digital will be as important in death as the physical experience, because we will generate more and more data about ourselves in the digital environment thus creating a virtual clone.

The digital context:

• Content is dispersed in different spaces
• AI techs will be able to create users’ virtual clones using the data they have shared for different purposes — and it’s not a fact that users will be happy with this clone
• Facebook and Instagram timelines is the only digital footprint people can leave for future generations (not laptops and cloud storages). But not all parents want their children to see their timeline. So all content in clouds and laptops that people want to keep for the next generations will be available.

Hypothesis:
A simple and quick, inspiring web-service can raise both recognition of life and responsibility for the content people share a building/museum can build more confidence and inspire the goal of keeping a life story there.

Target audience. Survey results

Audience: digital-experienced, millennials, active smart-phone users.

Results:

1. People generate mountains of content, store it in different
2. Spaces and then don’t have time or the inclination to manage it.
3. People don’t have time/inclination/purpose to create a story, but nevertheless think a family tree and stories are important.
4. People don’t think of their digital legacy and associate remembrance and a life story with biography, life summary and something boring.
5. People forget their ancestors and their family tree.

Insights:

1. No connection between remembrance (past) and current moments (present)
2. Time versus choice.
3. Digital proposes huge opportunities for a simple means of keeping stories and providing opportunities to share content with different purposes.
4. The Now moment is full of different purposes. Remembrance is not among them.
5. Remembrance doesn’t respond to current users’ behavior: engaging, inspiring, quick, simple, time-effective.

Based on this data, I created a Customer Profile.

Customer Profile

Customer Jobs:

• stay connected with their beloved
• keep moments in different places
• share everyday content on social media

Pains:

• lack of time on creating a story
• no idea and motivation to manage the content
• no perspective in keeping content
• social networks became too public for share some content

Gains:

• control their social environment
• be inspired
• see stories about their family tree
• control the content they share

Chapter 9. Creating a response