Mediated Faces

Incorporating faces into mediated discussions is a complex design problem. The face conveys social and personal identity; it reports fleeting changes of emotion and the cumulative effects of often repeated expressions. The face both expresses and betrays: it shows what the person wishes to convey – and much more. We are highly attuned to recognizing and interpreting faces (though these interpretations are very subjective). Incorporating faces into mediated environments can be quite desirable: it helps the participants gain a stronger sense of their community and can potentially provide finely nuanced expression. Yet there are significant disadvantages and difficulties. The immediate identifying markers revealed by the face, e.g. race, gender, age, are not necessarily the initial information one wants to have of others in an ideal society. And much can be lost in the path from user’s thought to input device to output rendering. This essay discusses key social, cognitive and technica...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2001
• Where: CT
• Authors: Judith S. Donath
• Keywords: Cognitive Science, Complex Design Problem, CT 2001, Mediated Discussions, Mediated Environments