How are our physical faces increasingly transformed for situating in digital environments? How do people negotiate their face in social interaction?

1. Minna Saariketo, PhD Researcher, Aalto University
Tapio Takala, Professor, Aalto University
Asko Lehmuskallio, Senior Researcher, University of Tampere
DIGITAL FACE
minna.saariketo@uta.fi
tapio.takala@aalto.fi
asko.lehmuskallio@uta.fi | @verlook
Academy of Finland, Digital Humanities Programme
UCL Centre for Digital Humanities, 4 October 2017

2. Faculty of Communication Sciences, University of Tampere
Department of Computer Science, Aalto University
Futurice Oy
Janne Seppänen Annukka Jänkälä
Risto Sarvas Jenny Julkunen

3. Research Objective
• RQ1: How are our physical faces increasingly transformed
into digital environments?
• 1) The mediations of face
• RQ2: How are these faces negotiated in social
interaction?
• 2) ’Face’ in terms of boundary regulation

4. Research Methods
• Empirical case studies
• Novel research methods
• Software development
• incl. ‘communication mirror’ (cf. privacy mirror)
• Conceptual understanding of digital face
• The mediations of face & ‘Face’ in terms of
boundary regulation

5. 1. Mediations of face
Coleccionando Camaras, 2002: NOKIA 7650. Nokia, Helsinki,
Finlandia, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, https://www.flickr.com/photos/
coleccionandocamaras/5592511807

6. Eastman Kodak Co.,
“The First Portrait
Photograph”, published
1919. Duke EAA Digital
Collection, Item ID K0327.

7. Screenshot of Jill Walker
Rettberg, “How Snapchat
Uses Your Face” 2016,
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=2XOd-rc7r98.

8. Negotiation of Gender Identity among Transgender
Individuals in Online and Offline Settings | Jenny Julkunen
Google Image Search results, ’Transgender’, 2017.
2. ‘Face’ in terms of boundary regulation

9. How do people experience and
understand their everyday
digital environments?
What meanings do people
give to data collected on them
in these environments?
Mirroring digital traces | Minna Saariketo
2. ‘Face’ in terms of boundary regulation

10. Tracking
Participants
(n=15) track their
ICT devices for 7
days and keep a
media diary
- trackers used
e.g. App Usage,
RealizD,
RescueTime,
Timing
Interview
1) ICT devices in
everyday life
2) Tracking as
experience
3) Opinions on
connectivity and
data mining,
hopes for change
Reflecting
results
Discussing
results with
participants when
analysis ready
Research design
2. ‘Face’ in terms of boundary regulation

11. About the approach
2. ‘Face’ in terms of boundary regulation
• Software that sinks into the
background (e.g. Thrift & French
2002), code/space (Kitchin & Dodge
2011)
• Experience of ubiquitous technology
and code-based infrastructures
• ”Mirroring” as a research
intervention

12. ”One of my observations when
using this app was that I use my
smartphone more when my
children are at home and when I’m
with them. It is like reaching the
top level in guilt.
But I also realised and kind of
decided during this tracking that I
just refuse to feel guilty, that this
is my way of being and living.”
- Sara, priest, 36
2. ‘Face’ in terms of boundary regulation

13. • Seppänen, Janne & Juha Herkman. 2016. Aporetic Appratus. Epistemological
Transformations of the Camera. Nordicom Review 37(2016):1, 1–13.
• Seppänen, Janne. 2017. Unruly Representation. Materility, Indexicality and Agency of the
Photographic Trace. Photographies 10(2017):1, 113–128.
• Lehmuskallio, Asko. 2017. Notes on the thin line between the smile and the grimace.
Membrana. Journal of Photography.
• Saariketo, Minna (2017). Älylasit tutuksi. Mediateknisten laitteiden kotoistaminen uutisissa.
Widerscreen 1–2(2017): http://widerscreen.fi/assets/Saariketo-1-2-2017.pdf
• Lehmuskallio, Asko. 2017. Kuva-aktivismin visuaalista antropologiaa. In: Kupiainen, Jari &
Häkkinen, Liisa (eds). Kuvatut kulttuurit. Johdatus visuaaliseen antropologiaan. Helsinki:
Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. (“A visual anthropology of image activism”, In: Depicted
Cultures. An Introduction to Visual Anthropology)
• Accepted (2):
• Lehmuskallio, Asko; Häkkinen, Jukka & Seppänen, Janne. Photorealistic computer-
generated images are difficult to distinguish from digital photographs: A case study with
professional photographers and photo-editors. Visual Communication, peer-reviewed pre-
print available at http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201708162290
• Lehmuskallio, Asko. Dreams of ubiquitous camera use: Attachment suggestions in early
Kodak advertisements. In: Handeln mit Bildern. Bildpraxen des Politischen in historischen
und globalen Kulturen, Eds. Christiane Kruse and Birgit Mersmann. Fink Verlag.
Publications

14. Welcome
Feb 27 2018 seminar on ‘facial recognition’
in cooperation with the Sussex Humanities Lab, at the
University of Sussex, UK.

15. Minna Saariketo, PhD Researcher, Aalto University
Tapio Takala, Professor, Aalto University
Asko Lehmuskallio, Senior Researcher, University of Tampere
DIGITAL FACE
minna.saariketo@uta.fi
tapio.takala@aalto.fi
asko.lehmuskallio@uta.fi | @verlook
Thank you for your attention!