Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Scholars Compass Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2011 A Framework for Digital Emotions Meghan Rosatelli Virginia Commonwealth University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd Part of the Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons © The Author Downloaded from https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/239 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Copyright © 2011 by Meghan Rosatelli All rights reserved A Framework for Digital Emotions A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University by Meghan Elizabeth Rosatelli Bachelor of Arts, University of Colorado at Boulder, 2004 Master of Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2007 Director: Dr. Richard Fine Professor, Department of English Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia August 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………..……………..…iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………………………….iv ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………….v INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………...……1 PART 1. A FRAMEWORK FOR DIGITAL EMOTIONS……….…………………….……….22 Chapter 1. Emotions are Fickle Things………………………………………………………..…23 Chapter 2. Emotions Put the “New” in “New Media”……………………………………….…..61 Chapter 3. A Framework for Digital Emotions………………………………………………….79 PART 2. APPLICATIONS………………………………………………………………………94 Chapter 4. Technology: Affective Computing…………………………………………………..95 Chapter 5. Community: Social Media and Gaming…………………………………………….124 Chapter 6. Aesthetics: Digital Community Artworks………………………………………….153 CODA………..…………………………………………………………………………………192 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………... 203 ii LIST OF FIGURES 1. The feedback process of a digital emotion…………………………………………………...91 2. The AIDS Quilt…………………………………………………………………………..….160 3. Learning To Love You More, Assignment #39…………………………………………..…..164 4. Found, “Find of the Day,” October 16, 2009……………………………………..….…….. 165 5. Dear God, opening page…………………………………………………………..…………167 6. The Dear God Project…………………………………………………………………..……168 7. Original PostSecret postcard……………………………………………………………...…170 8. The “9/11 Secret” ……………………………………………………………………………177 9. Lovelines, “Pictures” ………………………………………………………………...………179 10. Universe, “Superstars” ………………………..……………………………………………181 11. We Feel Fine, “Madness” …………………………………………………….……………184 12. We Feel Fine, “Montage” …………………………………………………….……………185 iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ARG Alternative reality game ATS Affective tutoring system CMC Computer mediated communication EIC Expressive Internet communication fMRI Functional magnetic resonance imaging HCI Human-computer interaction IGBP It Gets Better Project ITS Intelligent tutoring system SMS Short message service iv ABSTRACT A FRAMEWORK FOR DIGITAL EMOTIONS By Meghan Rosatelli, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2011. Director: Dr. Richard Fine, Professor, Department of English As new media become more ubiquitous, our emotional experiences in digital space are increasing exponentially as well. While there is much talk of “affective” computing and “affective” new media art, a disconnect exists between networked emotions and the popular media that they inhabit. This research presents a theoretical framework for assessing “digital emotions”—a term that describes the feedback process between digital technologies and the body with respect to short, networked inscriptions of emotion and the (re)experience of those inscriptions within the body and through digital space. Digital emotions display five basic characteristics that can be applied to a variety of media environments: (1) They describe a process of feedback that link short, emotive inscriptions in digital environments to users and their (re)experiences of those inscriptions; (2) This feedback process includes, but is not limited to, the inscriber, the medium, and the receiver and the emotive experience fuels the initial connectivity and any further connectivity; (3) The emotional value varies depending on the media, the community of users, and the aesthetic experience of the digital emotion; (4) Digital emotions influence our emotional repertoire by normalizing our paradigm scenarios; and (5) They are highly malleable based on changes in technologies and their ability to both expand and contract emotional experiences in real time. The core characteristics of digital emotions are applied to three broad and overlapping categories: technology, community, and aesthetic experience. Each of these aspects of digital emotions work together, yet they exist along the massive spectrum of our online, emotional experiences—from our casual click of the “like” button to digital community artworks. Applied to digital spaces along this spectrum, digital emotions illuminate the feedback process that occurs between the media, the network, and the environment. The framework ultimately suggests that the process of digital emotions explicates emotions experiences that could only occur in digital space and are therefore unique to digital culture. Introduction The rapid evolution of new media over the past decade, from social networking to iPhone applications, has no doubt changed the way we communicate. Over seventy-four percent of American adults regularly use the Internet (roughly 163 million individuals) on 285 million wireless connections. User statistics spike when citing teens and young adults—over ninety-three percent regularly use the Internet, with approximately a third of those users communicating through short status updates. 1 Combined with the 1.5 trillion text messages sent in 2009, 2 declaring a twenty-first century communication revolution seems almost redundant. Yet revolutions, if we agree that new media has incited one, disrupt more than existing hierarchies and cultures—they change our emotional lives as well. Historically, emotion existed as the unfortunate opposite of reason—a binary that propagated many other erroneous binaries, such as male and female, passive and active, or weak and strong. The consequence of such a devaluation still creeps into our digitally mediated lives and results in emotion being casually questioned, but often critically overlooked in relation to digital media conversation and scholarship. Yet everything from advertising to online dating is being affected by the need to emote in new ways within new media. Furthermore, recent interdisciplinary research on emotions describes a critical bodily reaction that dictates not only how we feel, but also who we are, and how we remember, reason and understand others. The recent discovery of mirror neurons, brain cells that automatically mirror action and emotion, suggests that we are hardwired 1 Pew Internet and American Life Project, http://www.pewinternet.org/ (accessed March 30, 2010). 2 CTIA, CTIA–The Wireless Association Announces Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey Results, http://www.ctia.org/media/press/body.cfm/prid/1936 (accessed March 30, 2010). 1 to empathize and understand others. This innate ability to mimic everything from throwing a pitch to feeling happiness not only connects us to each other, but also builds a unique human culture. Our changing emotional landscape combined with recent scientific discoveries on emotion calls into question traditional knowledge of community, place, and self. We know that new socialization practices in cyberspace are changing our cultural landscape, but what are the consequences of this new culture on our emotional lives? The parallel development of digital communication and emotion-based research also yields fascinating questions about our popular culture. How do emotions fit into the vast array of digital communication? How do we emote in digital space? What is lost in these media? What is gained? And perhaps most importantly, if emotions are inextricably tied to communication, culture, and our understanding of self, can digitally emoting fundamentally change who we are? This dissertation will examine the co-evolution of emotion studies and digital communication through the lens of popular culture by focusing on emotional experiences that occur, whether we recognize them as such or not, in our digital lives. While many researchers rightfully argue that new media continue to shape our culture, I will further argue that emotional experiences in select new media are shaping our emotional, and therefore rational, selves. As the line between digital space and the “real” world continues to blur in the midst of ubiquitous computing, and as the bodily distinction between “real” experiences and simulation continues to be questioned, the role of emotions in digital space foreshadows the function of emotions in our twenty-first century lives. Perhaps the most expansive look at digital emotions comes from an artist and a computer engineer, not a social scientist or neuroscientist. In 2005, Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar launched the emotion collecting website We Feel Fine—a website that algorithmically collects 2 feelings from bloggers all over the world. We Feel Fine catalogues these feelings based on various metrics and attempts to build community