Face Value: Analyzing and Visualizing Facial Data

Overview & Synopsis

The increasing popularity of face recognition software introduces new forms to interact with digital face representations. This article explores some of the forms that have emerged in the field of automatic face recognition including face detection, face identification, or face classification. The visual representations generated in technical and scientific literature are taken into account in order to study their relationship with user interface elements. At this point, the article adopts a cultural perspective based on semiotics, media studies and cultural analytics. Human-computer interaction is conceived as an enunciation process and some modalities are regarded according to the practice of face recognition software. In the end, the article discusses an original project in cultural analytics, created from images of album covers and analyzed from their occlusion and distortion values, which is an interpretative reading that technical faces also evoke.