When Michela Murgia was writing, speaking, discussing online, she was not simply publishing content. She was constructing a space of thought. A living place, made of words, images, relationships, that kept expanding in time and in the gaze of others.
At his passing, that place did not vanish. It remained. But in what form? And most importantly: under whose control?
This is where one of the most pressing issues of our time takes shape: digital legacy. Not as a technical issue, but as a cultural, political and deeply human node.
Over the years, Michela Murgia has built an intense, layered, recognizable digital presence. Her social profiles were spaces of confrontation, of political elaboration, of personal narrative. Not mere containers of content, but extensions of her public voice.
Yet, as with anyone, this content was distributed within global platforms - Instagram, Facebook, YouTube - governed by logics that had nothing to do with memory: algorithms, metrics, variable policies.
Without conscious intervention, that heritage would have remained there: fragmented, exposed to the risk of loss, subject to invisible but constant transformations.
The writer's heirs chose not to let it be so.
Thanks to the work of Zephorum, an autonomous and independent space was born - www.michelamurgia.zephorum.com - in which Michela Murgia's public content was retrieved, organized and made searchable outside the platforms that had originally hosted it.
This is not simply an archive: it is a stance. Subtracting that content from algorithmic dynamics means asserting that memory cannot be subordinated to the logic of visibility, nor to the volatility of digital infrastructures. It means recognizing that online identity is an integral part of the person - and, as such, deserves protection even after death.
The project carried out with Zephorum takes shape in what is called aninteractive digital mausoleum . But the word "mausoleum" here does not indicate immobility. On the contrary: it is a living, searchable, traversable space.
Those who access it can explore the content published by Michela Murgia over the years through chronological navigation and search tools. Texts, images and videos are returned in an orderly, readable environment, finally freed from the noise and distortions of platforms.
There are no algorithms deciding what to show. There are no metrics that influence the perception of value. There is only the content, in its integrity.
Alongside this public dimension, there is a completely different and invisible level: the private archive. Emails, calendars, personal documents are kept securely and accessible only to heirs. Because the digital legacy is not only what has been published, but also what belongs to the most intimate sphere.
And then there is a third dimension, perhaps the most significant in the long run: the possibility of access for research purposes. Some content can be made available, upon request, to scholars and institutions, transforming this space into a living cultural archive, capable of continuing to generate knowledge.
Finally, the way of interacting also changes. There are no likes, no counts, no engagement dynamics. In their place, a symbolic, unique, personalized reaction: in Michela Murgia's case, the artichoke. An identity sign, ironic, affectionate, that gives interaction back a human dimension, subtracting it from standardization.
It is here that the project makes its most radical leap. The Zephorum Mausoleum is not an improved archive. It is something different: a new form of social network.
A one-to-many social, or if you will, aprivate social. Unlike traditional social - built on many-to-many relationships and governed by algorithms - this model puts the focus:
It is not about accumulating visibility, but preserving meaning. Not generating traffic, but preserving memory. It is a paradigm shift that stems from a concrete need-that of digital legacy-but opens up much broader scenarios about the future of our online presence.
The case of Michela Murgia makes visible something that concerns, first and foremost, public people.
Those who have built a significant online presence leave behind a legacy that is not only personal, but collective. Thoughts, interventions, stances continue to be relevant over time. Their dispersal or loss is not neutral: it is a cultural loss.
That is why the digital legacy of famous people must become an object of attention, care, design. But to stop here would be a mistake.
Because, in reality, what changes between a public and a private figure is not the nature of the problem, only the scale. Today everyone: writes, publishes, shares, archives, communicates online. Each of us builds, day after day, a digital trail that tells who we have been. And so the question comes back, inevitable: who will take care of it?
Leaving it in the hands of platforms means accepting that:
It ultimately means giving up decision-making.
With the solutions developed by Zephorum, this decision returns to the hands of individuals and their families. It is no longer necessary to be a public figure to design one's digital space, to organize one's content, to determine what will remain and in what form.
The project dedicated to Michela Murgia delivers a new awareness. Digital memory is not something that happens automatically. It is something that is constructed. It is a choice that concerns: the dignity of the person, the continuity of thought, the relationship between the individual and technology.
In a world in which more and more parts of us exist online, deciding how and where these parts will continue to live is perhaps one of the most important acts we can take.
📩 To build your own or your organization's independent digital space: business@zephorum.com