Digital afterlife leaders: professionalisation as a social innovation in the digital afterlife industry

Since the term ‘digital afterlife industry’ (DAI) was coined in 2017 by Carl Öhman and Luciano Floridi, scholarly attention has primarily focused on establishing ethical frameworks for this emerging domain. While the extensive discussion has recently centred on the commodification, commercialisation, and privatisation of our post-mortem presence within DAI, little attention has been given to the fourth missing ‘ation’ element, namely professionalisation. Therefore, in this article, I aim to present professionalisation as an upcoming social innovation with the potential to significantly enhance standards and provide new social values within the digital afterlife industry. Drawing inspiration from existing roles such as ‘digital death managers’, ‘digital embalmers’, or ‘digital afterlife consultants’, I advocate for the need to bolster the development of a new cadre of professionals, collectively termed as ‘digital afterlife leaders’. In the paper, I outline the profile of these new professionals, their potential areas of expertise, and their mission, highlighting the crucial role of various stakeholders, including academia, in supporting this forthcoming change.