Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 60
Posts 1 - 10

Twitter testet doppelt so lange Tweets

(Twitter is testing twice as long tweets)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 27.9.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | texting, Twitter, word/writing
Summary | Twitter has announced that they will be allowing a test group tweets of up to 280 characters in length instead of just 140 characters. The extreme shortness dictated by Twitter is a remnant of its early beginnings when Twitter was mimicking text messages. Japanese, Chinese, and Korean will not be included in this update because those languages can express far more content in fewer characters already.
Image Description | Twitter logo with colorful hashtags.
Image Tags | hashtag, logo, Twitter

I can't be trusted with Google's texting app

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 19.5.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | Google, language threat, texting, word/writing, youth
Summary | Google's new Allo app is supposed to make you save time while you're texing, but it can sometimes lead to misunderstandings. The author of the article doesn't really like emojis and doesn't know how to use them well. She doesn't follow young people's digital habits. Their generation favors brevity, which can have a negative impact on language.
Image Description | Photograph of two young girls on their smartphones, two smartphones displaying chat conversations, and a man standing in front of a screen displaying "Allo" and "Duo".
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, text

Diese Wörter finden Sie jetzt im Duden

(You can now find these words in the Duden dictionary)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 7.8.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | Facebook, fake news, online dating, selfie, spelling, word/writing
Summary | The new Duden complete orthographic dictionary has grown by 5000 words. Many new entries are from the world of technology: selfie, tindering, to like (as in Facebook likes, ""liken" in German), Dropbox, cyber war, fake news, click number ("Klickzahl"), to facebook ("facebooken"), live stream, and many more.
Image Description | N/A

'Ha' Isn't a Laugh. Seriously?

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 8.7.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | abbreviations, emojis, Facebook, research/study, texting, word/writing
Summary | People express laughs in different ways when the text or otherwise communicate online. Some type a version of "haha", others write "LOL" or a similar abbreviation but none of these messages mean that one is actually laughing. Linguists who have analyzed thousands of texts claim that LOLs signal interlocutor involvement like an "uh-huh" on the phone.
Image Description | Cartoon of various people laughing with various noises.
Image Tags | male(s)

Facebook has a plan to let you type with your brain

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Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 19.4.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | brain, Facebook, privacy, word/writing
Summary | Facebook is working on a new technology that would let users type a hundred words per second with their thoughts only. If they could find a way to tap into brain signals it would be a huge leap for augmented reality. Many users are however already worried that Facebook is intruding in their privacy and are anxious about Facebook taping into their brains.
Image Description | A woman standing in front of the Facebook logo.
Image Tags | Facebook, female(s), logo

Could a text become your will? The plans to revolutionise 'outdated' legacy system

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 13.7.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | law, texting, word/writing
Summary | The Law Commission thinks that the legacy system is outdated and that it needs to be updated to keep up with our digital world. For instance, the Commission suggests that we should allow notes, emails and voicemail messages instead of a written will.
Image Description | Photograph of a part of a written will

Facebook granted patent for post-scanning software that identifies slang before it becomes popular

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Newspaper | Mirror
Date | 9.3.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | Facebook, word/writing
Summary | Facebook has been granted a patent for a software that can identify users' new words and slang. Facebook wants to identify those new "cool" words before they become popular and create a glossary of those terms.
Image Description | Hand holding a smartphone displaying the Facebook app, photograph of man's face (nose and mouth), and diagram showing how the new software would work
Image Tags | Facebook, hand(s), male(s), smartphone

Words are getting shorter due to social media as 'Jomo' and 'mic drop' feature on word of the year list

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 3.11.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | social media, spelling, texting, word/writing
Summary | With social media and texting, it seems that words are getting shorter. For instance, “jomo” stands for the “joy of missing out”; the acronym has been included on the Collins list of words that have seen a significant rise in usage. Other terms are: mic drop, throw shade, sharenting, uberisation, or dude food.
Image Description | Photograph of a group of people cheering, video of Obama dropping his mic, and photograph of Trump smiling
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)

Why Kids Can't Write

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 2.8.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | grammar, punctuation, school, smartphone, social media, spelling, texting, threat, word/writing
Summary | Many students struggle with writing despite various pedagogical models that have been implemented in past years to tackle that perpetual issue. This is all the more suprising considering that today's students may do moret voluntary writing than any generation before it. They text and post on social media a lot but the writing register is different there. The format's main principle is shortness so grammar, spelling, and punctuation take a back seat.
Image Description | GIF of a hand writing and a group of teachers in a workshop.
Image Tags | female(s), gifs, text

Surfing With a New Keyboard

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 8.6.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | emojis, GIFs, Google, smartphone, texting, translation, word/writing
Summary | Third party keyboards are now available to download to your smartphone. One of them is Gboard, it is very good at translating your texts in real-time. Some keyboards also offer a search function for emojis or GIFs. The swipe-typing feature is also very popular which allows users to swipe across the letters to enter words rather than type each individual letter.
Image Description | N/A

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