Obituraries 2.0
Remembering loved ones in a web2.0 age is easier than ever with video sharing tools such as YouTube. After a young man , Dave Persaud, was gunned down in front of an Edmonton night club about a week ago, his family wanted a way to share his life in a way more memorable than just a few words in the local newspaper. A friend, Nicholas Thompson, turned to YouTube.
A death notice hadn’t even been published in the paper when Thompson first posted a 3 1/2-minute tribute video, “Never Gonna Be The Same,” on the popular video-sharing website YouTube Saturday.
What’s fascinating is the motivation for doing so.
Although the news media interviewed family and friends they felt the story dwelled on the grieving family. It didn’t reflect their loved one in the way that they knew him. They wanted to show “a good friend, loving husband, concerned brother and supportive son.”
Sprinkled throughout are pictures and clips of Persaud during the happier times ‘€” with his beloved souped-up car, hanging out with friends at Bluffers Park, his recent engagement, wedding and going-away party. In one of the last clips, the newlywed looks to the camera and says, “I love you.”
Rather than being the audience, the family was able to participate in the media, allowing them a modicum of control in this tragedy, particularly in the way that the victim and the family were perceived. And its not going without notice as almost 700 people have since viewed the video.
