Archive:Video-Enhanced Grave Marker: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
A '''Video-Enhanced Grave Marker''' (VEGM) is a Western-style [[headstone|tombstone]], with technological advances attached. Through sound and video, VEGMs would, in theory, make visits to [[graveyards]] an interactive experience. | A '''Video-Enhanced Grave Marker''' (VEGM) is a Western-style [[headstone|tombstone]], with technological advances attached. Through sound and video, VEGMs would, in theory, make visits to [[graveyards]] an interactive experience. | ||
Invented by ([http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=WO2004040547&F=0 WO2004040547]) by [[Robert Barrows]] of [[San Mateo, California]], the VEGM would allow its owner to record messages to be played to loved ones, or any visitor to the site with a [[remote control]]. The stones would be equipped with weatherproofed video playback and recording devices plus [[Computer storage|memory]] systems and a television monitor placed within a weather-proofed, hollowed-out headstone. As of May 2005, Barrows estimated that the costs of the VEGMs might start at about [[United States dollar|USD$]]8000 to $10,000 depending on the size and shape of the tombstones and the cost of the electronics you might want to put in it. | Invented by ([http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=WO2004040547&F=0 WO2004040547]) by [[Robert Barrows]] of [[San Mateo, California]], the VEGM would allow its owner to record messages to be played to loved ones, or any visitor to the site with a [[remote control]]. The stones would be equipped with weatherproofed video playback and recording devices plus [[Computer storage|memory]] systems and a television monitor placed within a weather-proofed, hollowed-out headstone. As of May 2005, Barrows estimated that the costs of the VEGMs might start at about [[United States dollar|USD$]]8000 to $10,000 depending on the size and shape of the tombstones and the cost of the electronics you might want to put in it. | ||
(Please note: The number shown when you link to the ESPACE website is a patent publication number, not a patent number.) | (Please note: The number shown when you link to the ESPACE website is a patent publication number, not a patent number.) | ||
The device is currently patent-pending. | The device is currently patent-pending. | ||
Revision as of 23:07, 8 June 2005
A Video-Enhanced Grave Marker (VEGM) is a Western-style tombstone, with technological advances attached. Through sound and video, VEGMs would, in theory, make visits to graveyards an interactive experience.
Invented by (WO2004040547) by Robert Barrows of San Mateo, California, the VEGM would allow its owner to record messages to be played to loved ones, or any visitor to the site with a remote control. The stones would be equipped with weatherproofed video playback and recording devices plus memory systems and a television monitor placed within a weather-proofed, hollowed-out headstone. As of May 2005, Barrows estimated that the costs of the VEGMs might start at about USD$8000 to $10,000 depending on the size and shape of the tombstones and the cost of the electronics you might want to put in it. (Please note: The number shown when you link to the ESPACE website is a patent publication number, not a patent number.) The device is currently patent-pending.
Barrows commented soon after its invention: "I envision being able to walk through a cemetery using a remote control, clicking on graves and what all the people buried there have to say. They can say all the things they didn't have the opportunity or guts to say when they were alive."
The concept has yet to prove feasibility in the real world. It is presumed by critics of the concept that some cemetery managers would be opposed to the "noisy" displays. People living in the surrounding neighbourhood may be disturbed by the constant sound, as well as other visitors to the cemeteries. Also, the VEGMs would be likely targets of thieves or vandals. (Barrows adds, "There are very strict laws against vandalizing tombstones, and if you are going to vandalize a tombstone, you'd better hope there are no such things as ghosts.")
The issue of censorship would likely be of concern with VEGMs. How high a level of free speech would be offered to the eventually deceased has not been announced, and could vary from site to site.
Robert Barrows is also the author of a forthcoming novel called "Cemetery of Lies," which is a collection of intimate secret confessions, as told from beyond the grave, through video tombstones.