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On April 9ÌýFacebook COO Sheryl SandbergÌýannounced new guidelines for memorial legacy accounts, and those changes were directly informed by research from ATLAS PhD candidate Katie Gach, along withÌýher faculty advisor,ÌýJed Brubaker,Ìýan assistant professor inÌýthe Information Science Department whose PhD dissertation resulted in Legacy Contact.Ìý
AÌýlegacy contactÌýis the person aÌýfacebook user designatesÌýto look after his or herÌýFacebookÌýaccount ifÌýit's memorialized.ÌýÌý
"It’s rare for a junior PhD researcher to have their research impact anything at this scale," says Gach, a digital ethnographer studying human experiences on social platforms.Ìý"I’m so grateful to Dr. Brubaker and the memorialization team at Facebook for trusting me with a piece of this important work."Ìý
Through her researchÌýevaluatingÌýFacebook's Legacy Contact, GachÌýfindsÌýways to build compassion and empathy into social media.Ìý During the project,ÌýGach completed interviews with Legacy Contact usersÌýand provided analyses to help the Facebook team understand how to help people find the connections they need in times of grief.Ìý
Gach will continueÌýher researchÌýthis summer as a researchÌýinternÌýat Facebook.