EternalSpace unveiled last week a completely new type of online memorials, in the form a virtual cemetery where people can mourn, share sorrow for and with their loved ones, and - spend money!

So, how does it work? Funeral homes, cemeteries and crematories, who are all searching new and modern (why?) ways to differentiate their offers and help their clients in the hard moments, are accepting the online solutions as the road to take. Services like Tributes or Legacy represent the, let's say, classical way to modernize the mourning business.

EternalSpace is the first of a kind because it proposes the customers to create a real space dedicated to the memory of the deceased. It comes in a form of a customizable peaceful landscape, accompanied by a serene music, hosting the virtual grave. Family and friends can sign a guest book or upload photos and videos to preserve the memory. In addition, they can place along the grave various types of items, such as monuments, flowers, trees, candles, hobby and sports related memorabilia and others. As you can guess, these items are not free, they cost money.

The idea behind is that people will want to create social communities around the memory of the people they knew and loved. All the features of a community are there : profiles, groups, real-time communication, messages…

Two questions, however, remain. One is related to the very concept of virtual cemetery, graves, grief and so on, and goes probably deeply in the philosophical and emotional bases of our culture(s)… OK, maybe doesn't have to, but might very easily. The second, more pragmatic and not at all virtual, is : is this an altruistic attempt to help people live through the most difficult moments of a loss, or just another profit-making scheme exploiting human sensibility and despair? Just asking

[ via Cloud Computing Journal ]