  The primary objective of our exploratory research is to contribute to the
ongoing conversation on Digital Afterlife from the lenses of Global South
during the COVID-19 period. Digital Afterlife is fast becoming a challenge for
our increasingly connected society. Moreover, the situation got worse with the
COVID-19 pandemic. The on-going research is to address the disparity in the
Global South, specifically in countries like Indonesia, India and The
Philippines compared to the Global North for Digital Afterlife services such as
policies and digital mourning services. By addressing the research question,
'What services and policy frameworks are available for Digital Afterlife in the
Global South during COVID-19?', we aim to find the multitude of ways people in
the Global South are managing their digital footprints. Our preliminary
findings show that some considerable research and death related digital
services and innovation have taken place during the pandemic. However,
overwhelming majority of these works are western-centric and mainly dealing
with post-mortem personal asset management. Cultural nuances, socio-economic
perspectives, religion, political climate, regional infrastructures are mostly
sidelined. We found significant disparity in Digital Afterlife product and
service designs, which got worse during the global pandemic. Our goal is to
collect further in-depth data within the three big ICT powerhouses of global
south (Indonesia, India and The Philippines), identify the challenges as well
as the innovations around Digital Afterlife.We envision proposing a set of
recommendations, based on our findings, for developing a more inclusive and
equitable digital space in this pandemic-stricken world.
