On the fate of social networking sites of deceased academics in the Covid-19 era and beyond

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about unprecedented death, and among those touched by this virus are academics who have, at some point in their career, lost their lives, or academic institutes or countries who have lost valuable intellectual contributors. In the shadows of their deaths, it is incumbent upon us – as members of academia and the public – to somberly reflect on the realities of living close to, or alongside, death. One aspect that has not been widely discussed, but that seems to be more pertinent now than ever, is the fate of social media accounts, institutional websites, social networking sites, and other publicly available sites of deceased academics. A deceased academic continues to have responsibilities beyond their death because their work and legendary status may be posthumously challenged at any point in the future. Faced with challenges, absent an active voice that might be able to offer a suitable response, and considering the “fallible” nature of science, that legendary status and literature could change, for example, via the postmortem correction or retraction of their academic papers. While many academics have likely not reflected too deeply – or at all – on this issue, they would do well to ponder on this topic now, especially in these unprecedented times of Covid-19.