The ancient Egyptians built pyramids to honor and remember their dead. In the Internet age, we build Web sites.

Take Terry Shannon, for example. The influential technology industry analyst and writer died on May 26, but a half-year later his own Web site lives on as a permanent memorial where friends from all over the world continue to post remembrances, condolences and words of comfort to his family.

Shannon was best known for his uncanny ability to find out what was happening inside Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC). For many years, he wrote under the name Charlie Matco, "the invisible person who was under every desk at Digital Equipment Corporation,'' as one poster put it.

A Vietnam veteran, Shannon started out in IT in the 1970s, operating an IBM System 360. He bought his first VAX in 1982 and wrote the first VAX/VMS user manual. Over the years, he was a writer for DECpro and Digital Review, as well as an independent analyst, newsletter writer and a frequent speaker at Digital user group conferences all over the world.

After Digital ceased to exist, his "Shannon Knows DEC'' newsletter morphed into "Shannon Knows Compaq'' and most recently "Shannon Knows High Performance Computing." His last post was a short report on HP's quarterly dividend. Shannon died later that day at age 52.

His friend Ken Farmer, who hosts a number of Web sites, including Shannon's, got the news a few days later. Farmer kept the message board open and encouraged people to contribute.

"I decided to convert his site from a news site to a place where people can put their condolences, and I decided to surround it with things important to him. It only makes sense [to create an online memorial] when the other side of the globe becomes your local town," he says.

Jeffrey Cole, director of the University of Southern California's Center for the Digital Future in Los Angeles, adds, "This is just another example of how the Internet is changing the nature of everything and the rules of time, distance and memory. A memorial is no longer in a depressing cemetery where only fewer and fewer see it or a service that fades quickly. The Internet brings together audio, video and text in an international memorial that stands the test of time.''

Today, Shannon's site includes a lengthy bio, copies of his past newsletters, pictures and presentations he made at DECUS and EncompassUS shows. The most moving part of the site, however, is the comment area, which includes posts from Shannon's best friend in high school, people he worked with early in his career, fellow Vietnam vets, friends that he met at DECUS events and admirers of his newsletter.