I’ve always been fascinated by graveyards and tombs. Of course, it seems a little strange but I think that interaction is everywhere, even there. Today while on the bus, I was thinking about the dialogue in this kind of places. It’s a very peculiar interaction but we all know that there is communication between us and the tombs, the people we miss.
The interesting thing is that this dialogue is basically silent. The question I asked to myself is if silence is communication, if we are communicating something when we’re silent. Of course, it depends on the situations: silence can have different meanings. But I think that it’s a strong communication because it means sharing something and we know that communication is not only about sending\receiving a message but about constructing in a collaborative way the meaning or the situation.
Context is one of the most important factor in a communication scenario.
But let’s go back to the graveyards 
They are very special places full of social conventions (don’t talk, don’t be happy …it remembers me the museums…the death of art!?) and of silent interactions. Could graveyards be a good field of work for interaction design? Maybe. If we think about IxD as a discipline that aim to innovate and create a better world I would like to have a more meaningful tombs, and I would like to “interact silently” with unknown tombs too! When you are in front of the tomb, what you do is praying and trying to recall the memories that talk about that “ex-person”. But what happens if you don’t know that person? I mean, there’s no chance to interact with others and I think that IxD would do something to solve this problem.
I know that this is a very difficult area because of religious and moral issues but I think that we could do something that is not in contrast with them (not like “The Final Cut” movie)