by Aaron Bronzan
E-Ternity is definitely one of the more novel and interesting ideas of all of the CS73N projects. In a world in which social networking is all the rage, a social net for dead people is an intriguing idea (albeit a bit morbid). I've looked over your assignments and business plans, and I saw a bit of your website in action during your in-class presentation. Here are some notes I've come up with...
Concept
The idea of a "virtual graveyard" is, I think, one that could very well catch on. It has a lot of potential (one that will become even larger as the youth of today begin to grow older). A repository for "the story of someone's life" is, I think, the most exciting aspect of this site. I particularly think that E-Ternity takes the idea of a memorial and merges it with a bit of genealogy to build a story from firsthand and secondhand sources. Instead of just a glimpse of what other people thought of a person, E-Ternity can offer a glimpse of how a particular person chooses to be remembered.
Target Audience
One major question mark for E-Ternity is who you ought to target. You mention that you would like to offer the service to the elderly, but I think you may find trouble reaching out to the aging population of today. Many of them are simply not familiar enough with computers to use E-Ternity. That said, there is a growing number of 50-60 year-olds with the computer know-how to use E-Ternity. Still, I wonder how motivated many people would be to start compiling artifacts for use after their deaths. It is by nature a disturbing task, and I'm not sure how eager many people would be to use it.
I would like to propose an alternative. Perhaps you could consider targeting younger and middle-aged people to use the site to learn about the lives of their elderly loved ones. For example, I think many people would be interested in sitting down with their aging grandparents to learn about their lives and to ask them how they would like to be remembered. In this way, the two could work together to build up a fitting electronic memorial. The experience with E-Ternity automatically becomes more sentimental, as it is driven by actual interaction with the elderly person. I think there must necessarily be a largely social grounding for E-Ternity. I know that I wouldn't want to spend my time building a site that will represent me after I die. Instead, I would prefer it to be a long and collaborative process, one that is built up over the course of my life with a lot of supplements from my friends and family. E-Ternity could become a site which is about a person's life (whether they are alive or dead), as opposed to being preparation for an ominous future. Perhaps you should not focus so much on "death", but emphasize death as a phase in the long journey of life itself.
Site Layout
I am still a little confused about how your site will be laid out. In your demonstration, you showed a sort of repository for file uploads, possibly centered around some sort of "profile page" that is much like many other popular social networking sites. However, you also note that:
"[People] can buy a place in front of the cemetery, or a place towards the back of the cemetery."
As well, you say that the site will be similar in form to a real cemetery. Does this mean that users will have to click through several pages of tombstones to find one of the places "toward the back"? I realize your business plan involves a tiered payment system in which users who pay more will get special services. However, be careful not to alienate the users who are looking for a simple, less expensive option. Do not make things harder or worse for a lower-level subscriber. Instead, make things better for a high-paying client.
I look forward to seeing your site develop its user interface. You have quite a challenge ahead of you in developing a user experience that is pleasant and easy to use.
Potential Risks
A great deal of E-Ternity’s appeal lies in its guarantee that it will survive for a long time. Users can even buy a place on the internet for 100 years, in fact. My main concern with this guarantee is that there really is no way of predicting the direction that Internet technology will go that far into the future. Will the Internet still be used in the same form 100 years from now? Will your website still remain relevant to people? How do you safeguard against the possibility of having to shut down the site sometime in the future (for lack of interest, funds, or ability to maintain it), while still maintaining the persevering guarantee? Be sure that your user agreement for long-term contracts takes this possibility into consideration.
Good luck! I look forward to seeing your site in action!
