Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 13
Posts 1 - 10

'Ha' Isn't a Laugh. Seriously?

Hyperlink

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)

A hunt for militants at a key location: the Internet

Hyperlink

Newspaper | Los Angeles Times
Date | 6.5.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, law, texting, threat, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube
Summary | The EU's police organization as well as the US government are targeting IS material online in their battle against terrorism. Attempts to intercept communication via encrypted instant messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram have failed. The IS also uploads video and other content to YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. These social media platforms report to have deleted hundreds of thousands of entries linken to the IS.
Image Description | Portrait of a high profile IS member.
Image Tags | male(s)

Names of the Brussels Victims Emerge Online, One by One

Hyperlink

Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 24.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, social media, texting, threat
Summary | In the aftermath of the Brussels airport terrorist attacks, cell phone service was unreliable so people worried about their loved one's went on social media in search for missing persons. Entire bulletin boards were created on Facebook where people posted pictures of the missing family members and friends. Shortly after, deaths were being published on Facebook and other social media.
Image Description | A Getty image showing the airport evacuation in Brussels and Twitter posts with pictures of missing persons.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), Twitter

San Francisco Police Chief Releases Officers' Racist Texts

Hyperlink

Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 30.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | diversity, law, politics, texting, threat
Summary | The San francisco police officer's racist text messaged were released. He now has to take racial bias training and all criminal cases that he and the recipients of his texts who are also police officers worked on have to be revisited. It is important that authorities react when they detect racism from police officers out in the open because they have the licence to kill when necessary and racial bias may cause them to see necessities where there are none.
Image Description | A police officer.
Image Tags | male(s)

New ideas for treating concussions

Hyperlink

Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 12.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, smartphone, texting
Summary | Doctors are looking into new ways to treat concussions and one of those ways is to stop texting or using a smartphone. Concussion-related headaches are often visually triggered so staring at a screen for hours like many people routinely do does not help heal from a concussion.
Image Description | Hands of a woman placing a football helmet on a boy's head.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), male(s)

More Racist and Homophobic Texts by San Francisco Police Are Found

Hyperlink

Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 1.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | diversity, law, politics, texting, threat
Summary | Text messages of a San Francisco police officer showed highly offensive language about various races, enthnicities, and LGBT people. Now all criminal cases this particular officer and the officers receiving his messages have worked on have to be reopened and examined for injustice due to racial and other bias.
Image Description | Police officer.
Image Tags | male(s)

The Week in Tech: The Next Big Thing, According to Mark Zuckerberg

Hyperlink

Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 16.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, research/study, smartphone, texting, virtual reality
Summary | Facebook is already huge: more than three times as many messages are transmitted over Facebook Messenger than SMS messages at its peak. But Facebook is also hugely significant as a video platform and they are investing much of their resources in developing virtual reality. Apparently, Zuckerberg believes that VR is the next big platform after the smartphone. They are even working with anthropologists to make the body language VR avatars more realistic.
Image Description | An image of Zuckerberg doing a presentation with VR goggles projected behind him.
Image Tags | Facebook, male(s)

Happy birthday, iPhone: Ten years later, Steve Jobs' creation owns us

Hyperlink

Newspaper | Los Angeles Times
Date | 21.6.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | smartphone, texting
Summary | The first iPhone became available to the public in June 2007; ten years later, the iPhone owns us and represents our capitalist society. When Jobs presented the first iPhone in San Francisco in 2007, he knew he was going to make a revolution. The author of the article owned a Blackberry but decided to buy an iPhone. With the iPhone, she thought it was hard to write long emails, and found it easier to use abbreviations and emojis. She also started taking too many pictures. When comparing the iPhone with other smartphones, Steve Jobs used to say that it was way smarter. The author agrees with Apple's philosophy "We are smarter so you can be dumber".
Image Description | Photograph of Steve Jobs holding an iPhone
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

How A Man Falls In Love

Hyperlink

Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 9.9.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | online dating, texting
Summary | Two stories of men who fell in love on dating apps. One on Tinder and the other on Bumble. Both had already given up hope but then they matched with these perfect partners. They both report of fantastic chats they had messaging each other through the app and that the attraction was already clear from the digital conversations.
Image Description | A cartoon of a man with cupid.
Image Tags | male(s)

How to Listen to Donald Trump Every Day for Years

Hyperlink

Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 21.1.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | grammar, language threat, politics, texting, Twitter
Summary | President Trump is widely criticized for his poor speaking abilities. His speaking style is more akin to regular talking whereas presidential speaking traditionally resembles the written language. This explains why Trump's medium of choice is Twitter or 'speeches' (too linguistically informal to be called an actual speech). Twitter, with its limitation on message length resembles texting, which as linguists have confirmed mimicks spoken language rather than formal writing.
Image Description | Donald Trump on a stage being photographed.
Image Tags | camera, male(s)

Page 1 of 2
Back | Next