Schoedinger Funeral and Cremation Service has taken the business of grief high-tech: It’s one of a growing number of funeral service providers to embrace the Web.
Schoedinger in central Ohio is offering live Web streaming and archived online video for use by military personnel overseas and others who can’t be present for a loved one’s funeral.
It’s a way for mourners to take part in the experience without the time and expense of a long-distance trip, especially one arranged on short notice.
“This just allows people to share in the grief and share in the grief experience with everyone,” said company President Michael Schoedinger.
The family organizing the funeral controls who has access to the private Web site used for broadcasting. The company offers the service for free but eventually may charge a fee to cover its costs, Schoedinger said.
Funeral directors say better technology and cheaper equipment have prompted more funeral homes to offer webcasting and videotaping services nationwide.
It’s also been more appealing as the Internet has become part of everyday life for many Americans domestically and abroad, said Ellery Bowker, the president of North Carolina-based Director’s Advantage, which specializes in technological products for the funeral industry and debuted its webcasting service last year.
The service allowed one soldier in Iraq to watch his grandmother’s funeral in North Carolina, Bowker said. In another case, comrades of a soldier who died overseas were able to view his memorial in the U.S.
The use of funeral webcasting is an emerging trend but hasn’t been tracked statistically, though some companies have offered those services for years, said Jessica Koth, a spokeswoman for the National Funeral Director’s Association.
Webcasting companies are also jumping in, offering packages to funeral homes that include tripods, cameras with microphones, and cables and cords, either for lease or purchase outright. Some ceremonies can even be webcast…