Face-interface or the prospect of a virtual ethics

Abstract

Much of the research on computer-mediated communication (CMC) identifies various forms of disinhibition associated with engagement with another through the medium of computerized communications technology. Yet disinhibition should not be taken to exclude the possibility of an ethical engagement with the Other in CMC. Using the idea of the 'face' as used by Levinas, it is possible to augment the idea of seemingly boundless freedom with the notion of a responsible or ethical user. I suggest that a phenomenology of the user interface is a first stage in enabling CMC Studies to work through the conceptual distinction between CMC and face-to-face (FTF) communication. At the core of this phenomenology, a conceptual apparatus constructed around the idea of the face-interface enables understanding of the engagement with an Other as an extension of the user's own body and as the voice of both user and interlocutor.