Machine readable wishes + Quantified Self = Digital legacy?

Machine readable wishes, with a picture of Ian Forrester on stage Text reads: Ian Forrester, founder of QS-Manchester back in the day, gave a fascinating talk a couple of weeks ago at EMF Camp on machine-readable wishes: applying the logic of automation rules to the question of what should happen to your personal data after you die. Ian’s talk made me think about my personal archives in a different way. He makes the case that a personal archive should contain executable instructions and provides an open-source framework to help you do this without entangling yourself even further in rent-seeking cloud services.The whole video (17.5 mins) is available on Peertube and now legacy media (Youtube). Small enough for a TED talk even…

I was reading through the Quantified Self newsletter and had a shock when I saw my talk about machine readable wishes from EMFCamp featured. I shared it on Linkedin quickly but not on my blog.

Ian Forrester, founder of QS-Manchester back in the day, gave a fascinating talk a couple of weeks ago at EMF Camp on machine-readable wishes: applying the logic of automation rules to the question of what should happen to your personal data after you die. Ian’s talk made me think about my personal archives in a different way. He makes the case that a personal archive should contain executable instructions and provides an open-source framework to help you do this without entangling yourself even further in rent-seeking cloud services.

I do think Gary, has the right idea. Machine readable wishes could be used to connect items and (for example) open source data sets for the public research. Or more realistically, create a custom last note to friends and family. Imagine leaving a beautiful infographic of the key moments in your life which were super meaningful to you. I am always reminded of Fabio who tracked all his conversations. Imagine if that conversation after the Quantified self was so impactful and then 40 years later you have a message reminding you how much it meant to the person who recently passed?

Ok bit far out or even creepy, but I was reminded of someone who helped me through my divorce without really knowing how impactful it was to me at the time. Sadly I think that person died.

I do have a markdown document of all the key moments in my life using the markwhen syntax. It wouldn’t take a lot to convert the document to something more readable then provide a few lines in my machine readable wishes to convert it into something beautiful to maybe part of the funeral booklet/order of service; if my executors allow it.

Author: Ianforrester

Founder and firestarter of cubicgarden ltd. Emergent technology expert, public service supporter, defender of human scale flourishing, city dweller, European at heart  and social geek event organiser. Captivated by the digital legacy, future of dating, human data interaction, self-hosing, personal data, open-source, house music, neurodiversity thinking, kindness and  collaborative futures for all. Can be found at cubicgarden@mas.to, cubicgarden@twit.social and cubicgarden@blacktwitter.io

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