In his work, the famous philosopher Slavoj Zizek discusses the notion of interpassivity. Interpassivity can be defined as “the consensual transferral of activity or emotion onto another being or object - who consequently ‘acts’ in one’s place” (Wilson 1). Zizek used the laughing track in American sitcoms as an example, however interpassivity is also very applicable to digital media. Through digital avatars or emoticons, users can express actions or emotions via another object. Emoticons and likes have become an essential part of the grammar of digital communication to express emotions and feelings (Agre 746).

 

With Inter-Face, we hope to make Facebook users more aware of how Facebook imposes interpassive behavior on their usage. Our plugin tries to do this in a humorous way, by adding and changing many Facebook features that are well known. The new functionality that is created also tries to make users more actively engaged in their social interactions. Interpassivity is making communication easier and more convenient, but also less exciting than the surprise, spontaneity and expressiveness of face to face interaction. We want to put the face back in Facebook.

 

References

 

Agre, Philip. ‘Surveillance and Capture: Two Models of Privacy,’ in The New Media Theory Reader, ed. Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Nick Monfort (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,
2003), pp. 737-760.  

 

Wilson, Laetitia. "Interactivity or interpassivity: A question of agency in digital play." Fine
Art Forum. Vol. 17. No. 8. 2003.