Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 11
Posts 1 - 10

Apple Opens the iMessage Door, and the Ephemera Rushes In

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 22.9.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | emojis, GIFs, word/writing
Summary | An Apple user of iMessage can now use different "tchotchkees" (e.g. GIFs, stickers, emojis) which dominate text messages whereas words are just "afterthought". Users can also throw confetti and balloons. Apple is trying to mimic what is out there on the internet.
Image Description | Screenshots of iMessage chats with words and stickers/emojis/GIFs/confetti, and screenshot of a tweet
Image Tags | emojis, gifs, text, Twitter

Wie Facebook unsere Sprache ausspähen will

(How Facebook wants to spy on our language)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 11.3.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, Facebook, research/study, word/writing
Summary | Facebook is planning to systematically keep track of linguistic innovations on their platform. They want to compile a slang dictionary ("social glossary") with the freshest expressions. Linguists are also very interested in this project. American linguist Gretchen McCulloch has already posed the research question what verbs and nouns will enter our speech for the new Facebook emoji reactions. We already speak of likes and liking something but how will we speek of users reacting with sad or angy emojis?
Image Description | Image of an eye reflecting a Facebook like symbol and a tweet by linguist Gretchen McCulloch.
Image Tags | Facebook, Twitter

"Apple, was hast du meinen Emojis angetan?"

("Apple, what have you done to my emojis?")

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 14.9.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | diversity, emojis, Twitter
Summary | The new Apple update comes with redesigned emojis and people are devastated. The changed look of the emojis makes many users sad to the extend that they feel like they "have lost a friend", one person on Twitter writes. There are also a few new emojis, most notably: all emojis are available in multiple skin shades and most emojis now exist in a male and female version. There is also an emoji of a homosexual couple now.
Image Description | A series of Tweets about the new emojis.
Image Tags | emojis, Twitter

iPhone-Nutzer sehen lachendes Emoji oft als Grimasse

(iPhone users oftentimes see laughing emoji as grimace)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 13.4.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, misunderstanding, research/study
Summary | Different smartphone operational systems display the same emojis differently. This can cause quite some misunderstandings, as researchers have found out. One emoji is being interpreted much differently when displayed within Android versus when displayed within Apple OS. So a positive smiling emoji appears as a grimace to iPhone users.
Image Description | Emojis and Tweets with compilations of emojis displayed on different platforms.
Image Tags | emojis, Twitter

The Emoji Bible has arrived ... and (face with halo emoji) has yet to declare it (OK hand sign emoji)

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 30.5.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis, translation
Summary | The Bible has been translated into emoji. It includes 3,300 pages and is intended for millennials.
Image Description | Screenshots of tweets from @BibleEmoji
Image Tags | emojis, Twitter

Water pistol emoji replaces revolver as Apple enters gun violence debate

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 2.8.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis
Summary | Apple decided to replace the gun emoji with a water gun emoji after several shootings that took place in the US. People commented on the change and said that changing the emoji was not going to resolve the gun violence problem.
Image Description | Water gun emoji and gun emoji, and screenshots of tweets.
Image Tags | emojis, Twitter

New emojis to include breastfeeding, a hijab and the lotus position

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 12.11.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | diversity, emojis
Summary | 56 new emojis will be released (e.g. bearded man, sandwich, face vomiting, woman wearing a hijab). However, there is still a lack of redhead emojis.
Image Description | Different versions of the hijab emoji, and screenshots of tweets about the hijab emoji and the lack of ginger emojis.
Image Tags | emojis, Twitter

Emojis on council tax bills: Council puts crying face on residents' statements

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 14.12.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, law, politeness
Summary | Lambeth citizens are getting emojis on their tax correspondence with their local authorities. To be exact: crying face emojis. One resident tweeted her tax calculations with a crying face emoji next to het balance due. Many find this distasteful since many people struggle to pay their taxes and emojis are just inappropriate for government communication. Emojis are one of the fastest growing languages ever recorded in history and they have surpassed their precursors, Egyptian hieroglyphs, which took centuries to develop.
Image Description | Tweet showing the tax document with emoji.
Image Tags | emojis, Twitter

Wie lustig darf die Polizei sein?

(How funny is the police allowed to be?)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 20.10.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, law, Twitter
Summary | Various police departments in Germany have taken to Twitter and they are using internet humor: sarcasm, emojis, puns, and so on. This is not funny because the police are supposed to be the butt of the joke and not making the jokes. Tweeting about crimes using emojis is also distasteful and inapropriate.
Image Description | Tweets by the police department of Munich.
Image Tags | Twitter

Les « emoji » constituent-ils un langage à part entière?

(Are emojis part of a fully-fledged language?)

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Newspaper | Le Monde
Date | 15.3.2016
Language | French
Country | France
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, research/study
Summary | In 2015, an emoji was chosen as the word of the year, and two years before that, the novel Moby Dick was translated in emojis. Emojis are everywhere; are they becoming a new universal language? Two linguists conducted a study and revealed that emojis are like a cultural mirror. They also investigated emoji use in different countries and revealed geographical differences in the type of emoji used. Emojis are not a language; they are a complement to language. Some people might think it’s a language because emojis look like hieroglyphics. Emojis are mostly used to transmit emotions.
Image Description | Photograph of a hand clicking on several emojis on a screen, and screenshot of Andy Murray's tweet composed of emojis.
Image Tags | emojis, hand(s), tablet, Twitter

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