Creative Media - Gravecode

After proposing my Idea I decided to really concentrate on it and develop it further:

For my Creative Media project I have come up with the idea of ‘Gravecode’. I thought about this idea as I have been to many funerals just over the past couple of months and having two of the closest people to me die, I thought it would be amazing if people could interact from beyond the grave as when visiting graveyards I always seem to have an interest in the other gravestones and not just the person I am there to pay tribute to. I find myself reading the stones and seeing if I could imagine what that type of person they would have been. I also think it a good idea for families by keeping their loved ones in the forefront of their minds.

The idea behind ‘Gravecode’ is having QR codes placed on Graves, the codes would be quite small making sure they don’t impose on the stones themselves but they would just give that little more insight into what that person was all about. When scanned by a smartphone the QR code (on the stone) would launch a biography webpage of the deceased. It would work by having the families write a biography and upload videos and pictures to a webpage, like a simple way of putting more into a memorial than just words on a gravestone.

I think this idea would be of great interest to people who want to know more about famous people when they pass. If this choice was given by every funeral directors I am sure a lot of icons would opt for this being what they want when they die to maybe feel like they can still connect with their fans, or it may be the decision of their families if they knew that it is what they would have wanted. As celebrities are normally very private although their lives get splashed all over the news this could be a way for them to leave snippets of what there life was ‘really’ like and what type of person they truly were especially if it was someone who got a lot of bad press.

 Researching further into my idea, I have found that very few but none the less some do offer this service ‘A business in Tonbridge is offering to put quick release (QR) codes on gravestones and murals which, once scanned, will bring up a treasure trove of information on a deceased person’s life.’ Here is the link to the article from the Kent messenger http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent_messenger/news/-rip--your-life-5952/ To be honest I have never heard of such thing but it goes to show that when you think of something there could be someone else out there who is thinking the same or has already thought of the idea.

For my presentation I have decided, instead of taking you to a Graveyard where I have researched into a handful of people’s lives and place QR codes on their stones I have created my own interactive graveyard which will be shown on an A3 poster. I have looked into 6 persons lives four of which are famous and two of which have a close connection the four famous persons headstones are the real ones located on the poster.

                                                           

I think this conception of the ‘Gravecode’ would be good to have in museums as even with my original idea you might not get many people that would want to go hunting graveyards to find out about different people. Especially if they are famous or have impacted in the world and there gravestone is miles and miles away, there would be no need to travel all that way if you could go to your local museum where pictures of their grave was located plus a QR code which would link you to more about the person’s life. For example it is quite a way to Paris just to see Jim Morrisons grave. 

Hopefully with all my research everything will go to plan and my presentation will be just fine. :)