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Net Effect

From Facebook to Gravebook

Ten years ago I couldn’t even imagine that I’d see something resembling a Facebook for graves in my lifetime (GraveBook?): The Jewish community of S. Petersburg has established the unique internet project Jekl.ru which has garnered great interest around the world. The project allows visitors to the site to locate any one of the 80,000 ...

By Evgeny Morozov

July 13, 2009, 3:53 PM

Ten years ago I couldn't even imagine that I'd see something resembling a Facebook for graves in my lifetime (GraveBook?):

Ten years ago I couldn’t even imagine that I’d see something resembling a Facebook for graves in my lifetime (GraveBook?):

The Jewish community of S. Petersburg has established the unique internet project Jekl.ru which has garnered great interest around the world. The project allows visitors to the site to locate any one of the 80,000 graves in the Jewish Preobrazhensky cemetery in S. Petersburg, as well as request services to care for a gravesite.

…The Jewish community of S. Petersburg has been working on a collection of photographs and a catalogue of all 80,000 graves at the cemetery, which are now been loaded onto Jekl.ru. Upon entering the name, date of birth, and date of death of the deceased into the search field in the Russian language, one is able to view a photo of the grave and information about its exact location in the cemetery. One can also view a map and the cemetery plot, as well as a few meters on each side of the grave in order to understand where the grave is located. Via internet, from anywhere in the world, one can fill out an order form specifying the desired service. Services range from erecting a new monument to reading a memorial prayer. The site automatically creates an invoice, payable through any bank.

The customer has the opportunity to evaluate the results of the services provided to the gravesite, by receiving an updated photograph of the grave sent to him/her by email. All of the work is carried out by the cemetery’s staff; the Jewish community acts as a mediator, controlling the quality and timing of works to be carried out. Since the Jewish community is a non-profit organization, the customer only covers the cost associated with the work carried out by the cemetery’s staff.

I know it probably offers a much-needed service but there is something uncanny about it…

Evgeny Morozov is a fellow at the Open Society Institute and sits on the board of OSI's Information Program. He writes the Net Effect blog on ForeignPolicy.com