Exploring the future of personal digital heritage

What is your research focus and area of interest?
My research explores how we can envision a liveable future for our personal digital heritage—the digital traces we create, share, and store. I critically examine how these traces are preserved in the context of an ongoing global ecological crisis. As an anthropologist, I work with local communities, archives, and professionals in the field of digital death. Together, we ask: How do we want to be remembered? By questioning long-term preservation and valuation practices, I aim to offer alternatives to the dominant role of commercial tech companies in shaping our digital legacy.

Why did you choose to spend time with the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures?
Although my research focuses on everyday practices related to our personal digital past, my central question looks ahead. In 50, 100, or even 500 years, will we still be able to tell our personal stories—and if so, how? Should these stories become part of our future heritage? The UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures provides an ideal environment to explore these questions in depth.

What do you hope to contribute during your stay?
With a background in visual arts and current work in Media Studies and Science and Technology Studies, I bring an interdisciplinary perspective to heritage research. I also have experience collaborating with creative professionals, bridging academic research and public engagement.

- I am pleased to welcome Marije Miedema to our Kalmar campus, says Cornelius Holtorf, Professor of Archaeology and holder of the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures. Her addition to our team strengthens our commitment to working with heritage futures and addressing future-oriented issues. Marije’s interdisciplinary approach to heritage will likely be of interest to several research groups at Linnaeus University.