Eric Hagerman
Eric Hagerman is an author, speaker and sound engineer whose work has been featured on Radio Lab, All Things Considered, TEDx, and PRI’s The World. Eric’s writing focuses on travel and technology, often talking about understanding other cultures, building personal relationships and constructing our online presences. His books, Mobile Planet and Take Control of Your Digital Legacy, were published by Hachette UK in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
Eric was born in Denver, Colorado in the early 1980s and grew up in a small mountain town in the nearby Rockies. He credits his teenage years spent in India, with the his father working for an NGO, as the spark that set him off on his journey to explore the cultural, tech and business potential of our interconnected world.
His first book, Mobile Planet: Understand Your World, Get Connected, Get Ahead (2012) captures Eric’s experience of living and working among some of the world’s most dynamic mobile cultures. He looks at the ways in which new technologies are being used to create a world that is more democratic, sustainable, and interdependent. Through interviews with world-renowned producers and executives, as well as intimate stories of grassroots technology efforts, Mobile Planet is at once a diary of Eric’s journey and a how-to guide for those looking to bring their own visions of the mobile world to life
The iPhone had recently made its debut when Eric wrote his next book in 2013, Take Control of Your Digital Legacy. In it he excavates the “emotional fossil record” of our digital lives, exploring the possibilities of our digital pasts and futures.
Eric believes that our digital legacies – both personal and professional – must be managed with intention and care. He argues that every post, tweet, photo and video we leave behind – whether uploaded to a website or stored in the cloud – should be marked with something to remember us by.
In Take Control of Your Digital Legacy Eric provides a practical guide to understanding and developing your own digital legacy plan. He looks at the challenges of aging, death and digital inheritance and how the technology available today can help with the daunting task of organizing, protecting, and preserving our personal stories.
Eric currently lives in Washington D.C. where he teaches courses in audio engineering, mobile cultures and digital identity at Georgetown University. His company, Skyrocket Recordings, produces original audio content for radio and podcasting. He also speaks regularly on radio, at conferences and universities about his work, technology and our ever-changing digital world.
Eric’s work is an important contribution to the field of digital legacy, providing valuable insight and guideposts for those looking to protect their digital memories and explore the potential of emerging technologies. He continues to look at the way we communicate, portraying it accurately and critically, while finding unlikely and creative connections between cultures and ideas.
