Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 13
Posts 1 - 10

Internetstars mit Jöö-Faktor

(Internet stars with aaaaw factor)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 2.12.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | Instagram, marketing
Summary | A Swiss Instagram account is increasing popular with thousands of regular likes. It is called "Mr.Mrs.Aliu" and showcases a young Swiss family with an Albanian migration background. They are a simple, working class family and they share their wedding and holiday pictures on Instagram. Recently they have also shared an image of their newborn daughter and her nursery with links to the shops where one could buy the same furniture.
Image Description | Instagram posts showing a man and a pregnant woman, a nursery, as well as a map showing where the couple lives.
Image Tags | female(s), Instagram, male(s)

SVP-Nationalrat Addor wegen Rassismus verurteilt

(SVP parlamentarian Addor sentenced because of racism)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 17.8.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | diversity, Facebook, law, politics, Twitter
Summary | National councillor Jean-Luc Addor (Schweizerische Volkspartei) was sentenced in court under the anti-racism law. After a fatal shooting in a Swiss mosque, he posted the following on Twitter and Facebook: "We want more of it!" The court decided that this post stripped Muslim residents and citizens of Switzerland of the right to live without any detectable sarcasm which is why he was found guilty of breaking the anti-racism law and will have to pay a hefty fine.
Image Description | Keystone image of Jean-Luc Addor.
Image Tags | male(s)

Der Herr der Smileys

(The Lord of Smileys)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 29.7.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | computer programming, emojis, misunderstanding, translation
Summary | The Unicode chief, Mark Davis, assesses which new emojis make it into the Unicode which all major tech firms use. Anyone can propose an emoji but they have to argue why it is a globally significant symbol. They are then written into the Unicode which is a computer code that works for all languages. Tech firms then choose the font for the letters and emojis in which these symbols appear on their devices. Tech companies have chosen more similar emoji fonts over the last years to avoid misunderstandings between devices of different providers if the emojis are displayed differently.
Image Description | Portrait of the interviewee Mark Davis.
Image Tags | male(s)

Googles künstlich intelligenter Chat-Freund

(Google's artificially intelligent chat friend)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 8.9.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, Google, marketing, social media
Summary | Google is launching a new messaging app called Allo. Messaging apps are hailed to be the new thing after social media. Especially messaging apps lie the Chinese WeChat or Allo which have an AI assistant with which users can easily get simple information from within the app, transmit payments, or open a small shop that operates through the app.
Image Description | Reuters image of a man presenting Allo at a conference and a few screenshots of conversations with Allo's chatbot.
Image Tags | Google, male(s), text

Ignoranz ist Stärke

(Ignorance is strength)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 3.2.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | fake news, politics, privacy, smartphone, social media, threat
Summary | Kellyanne Conways term "alternative facts" remind of Orwell's fictional language Newspeak which also changes meanings by renaming. Many facts of contemporary life (especially under the Trump administration) remind of dystopian novels "1984" by G. Orwell and "Brave New World" by A. Huxley. We all carry smartphones with us at all times with which we can send information but which also receive and document information about us like our location, who else is in that location, our communications, purchases, and so on. Privacy has become impossible in the digital age.
Image Description | Images and videos of the film "1984" and George Orwell as well as the news clip where Kellyanne Conway mentions "alternative facts".
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), TV

Die Putzfrau ist schuld

(It's the cleaning lady's fault)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 15.2.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | texting, youth
Summary | The visitors of the carneval in Basel carry around lanterns on which they traditionally write political statements which are significant to them. One observer remarks that those political messages on the lanterns have become shorter in the past years, especially with youths. They resemble texting language.
Image Description | Image of the interviewee.
Image Tags | male(s)

«Ich bin der Dolmetscher der Kinder»

(«I am the translator of the children»)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 13.6.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | childhood, smartphone
Summary | A pediatrician recommends parents to let their children use smartphones and other digital media as much as they like if they do well in school and are socially competent. If they have issues in school or with their social competency, then parents should limit their smartphone use as much as possible. Children must be taught to take responsibility. It is however counter-productive to demonize digital media as they have become inevitable part of all our lives.
Image Description | Portrait of the pediatrician.
Image Tags | male(s)

Einfach mal loslaufen

(Just start walking)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 16.2.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | technology-free, threat
Summary | Travelling has been made easier by the digitalization - no doubt. But the sheer mass of information available to us has made us control freaks when it comes to traveling. We can research all the coolest hidden spots before we go someplace and then we end up hurrying from one place to another. Now travel guides are coming out that teach people how to give in to serendipity but planned serendipity kind of defeats the purpose.
Image Description | Getty image of a Brooklyn street corner with a bunch of people and a dog.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)

Es flitzt der Rollstuhl

(The bolting wheelchair )

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 16.1.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | (mental) health, diversity, emojis
Summary | A German organization for the inclusion of people with disabilities into public life is offering a set of Inklumojis: emojis that depict people with disabilities. These include a man in a wheelchair with fire shooting out of the back suggesting speed, athletes with leg prosthetics, a romantic couple holding hands, one of them with a prosthetic arm, and many more. Emojis can normalize people with disabilities much easier than big advertising campaigns which is why they will attempt to have their emojis included by the Unicode Consortium.
Image Description | Emojis of people with diabilities.
Image Tags | emojis, female(s), male(s)

Jetzt kommt die Sticker-Schwemme

(The sticker flood is on its way)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 15.11.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | abbreviations, emojis, Facebook, language threat, marketing, social media
Summary | Emoticons (f.i. ":-D") and abbreviations (f.i. "LOL") have trickled down from "geek speak" and established themselves in the mainstream. Emojis are nowadays ever present in our digital communication as well as in other arenas such as film or advertising. Now various social media platforms, among them Facebook, offer users various palettes of stickers. They are larger versions of emojis and are sent as an image file rather than included on the keyboard as a letter. Because many sticker palettes need to be purchased, a whole economy is beginning to form: The Japanese messaging app Line has sold over $250 mio worth of stickers last year. We do not need to fear that emojis and co. will replace language as we know it.
Image Description | Commodified emojis in various forms (as balls, as tattoos, as bed sheets, as food, on clothing, as masks, etc.) and Facebook messenger chats using/purchasing sticker collections.
Image Tags | emojis, Facebook, male(s), social media

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