Présentation

Based on an overview of current research, this introduction revisits the notion of ethos in a digital environment. Taking Aristotle’s definition as a starting point and integrating contemporary interpretations that have been circulating in various fields—Discourse Analysis, Microsociology, ICT—the present issue wishes to shed light on our self-presentation practices on networks. The multimodal construction of our ethos is divided between our wish to control it and the computerised formatting processes and data processing. It also plays a key role in building the neccessary confidence that web actors (individuals, institutions, brands) are looking for. Ethos is thus part of the history of the Internet—from transparency concerns about the first online personal diaries to creating (typo)graphical tools that are part of its editing process, if not its intrumentalisation. Finally we will consider the recent developments of ethos, i.e. dronies, to show how postures and their imitations enable users to be aknowledged by a web community.