Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 11
Posts 1 - 10

Darauf können sich auch alte iPhone-Nutzer jetzt freuen

(This is what even old iPhone users can look forward to)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 19.9.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, emojis, smartphone, texting, translation, WhatsApp
Summary | The new iPhone operational system has a couple of new updates. There will be a new control unit and user surface making the iPhone increasingly similar to a full Mac. The in-house messenger iMessage has a lot of new emojis and stickers and allows the users to be more creative with their texting. It is however still no threat to WhatsApp because only Apple users can use iMessage. Siri no also speaks a bunch of new languages: she will be able to translate English into German, Chinese, Spanish, French or Italian.
Image Description | A screenshot of iOS 11.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

Modeberatung

(Fashion counseling)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 1.8.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, emojis, Facebook, misunderstanding, WhatsApp
Summary | A start-up company from Berlin offers anonymous fashion counseling by an artificially intelligent chatbot. Their corporate partner is Zalando and the chatbot can be used on WhatsApp and Facebook messenger. It does not seem to work very well though. To the question "what goes well with blue pants?", it responds "blue pants". To the question "what's in fashion right now?", it responds with a sweating emoji.
Image Description | N/A

Herz ist Trumpf

(Hearts are wild)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 1.6.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, WhatsApp
Summary | The heart emoji is the most popularly used emoji on WhatsApp (after the smiling emoji). It appears to have some universal appeal. There are various heart emojis available on messaging apps and they all have different code meanings. Yellow or green hearts are friendly, pink hearts are seriously romantic, and red hearts signal strong sympathy or love.
Image Description | A piece of clothing with a heart on it.

Vorsicht vor dieser Whatsapp-Falle

(Beware of this WhatsApp scam)

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Newspaper | Stern
Date | 19.12.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, threat, WhatsApp
Summary | A WhatsApp chain message is going around offering people free holiday emojis. A link directs them to a dodgy website where they type in their phone number and service provider. Instead of getting free emojis however one is signed up for an expensive subscription with hardly any possibility to quit. People should be careful with content they receive and spread through WhatsApp.
Image Description | A hand-held smartphone.
Image Tags | Facebook, female(s), hand(s), Instagram, smartphone, Viber, WhatsApp

WhatsApp-GIFs jetzt auch auf Android

(WhatsApp GIFs now also on Android)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 12.1.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, GIFs, WhatsApp
Summary | WhatsApp are working on making GIFs available to users within the app. The moving images are very popular because they are more expressive than emojis but also do not use much more data or space on the smartphone's storage. GIFs had previously been availble in text messaging to iPhone users and now WhatsApp is trying to catch up.
Image Description | N/A

WhatsApp wird zur geheimen Sache

(WhatsApp becomes a secret affair)

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Newspaper | Appenzeller Zeitung
Date | 7.4.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, privacy, WhatsApp
Summary | After repeatedly being criticized by the public for only poorly providing privacy to its users, WhatsApp has incorporated end-to-end encryption in its newest update. Now, federal security organizations can no longer spy on fathers sending their daughters celebratory emojis after their favorite football team has scored. This encryption is only needed by people who oppose privacy violation, criminals, and terrorists.
Image Description | N/A

Wir wollen zeigen, dass wir gut Englisch können

(We want to show that we are good at English)

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Newspaper | 20 Minuten
Date | 29.4.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | anglicisms, code-switching, emojis, texting, WhatsApp, youth
Summary | Young people increasingly communicate in English with each other (especially digitally). This has become a way to imitate their idols, who are largely English-speakers, and to exclude adults from their communicative code. Linguists are delighted by young people's creativity; they use different languages and emojis available to them even though their competence may not be perfect.
Image Description | Series of four screenshots of WhatsAspp conversations showing English/Swiss-German code-switching.
Image Tags | WhatsApp

Les jeunes parlent romand

(Young people speak Romand (Swiss French))

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Newspaper | Le Matin
Date | 18.5.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, research/study, texting, What's up Switzerland, WhatsApp
Summary | Interview with Federica Diémoz at the University of Neuchâtel. She talks about a study related to the different expressions used in the Swiss French part of Switzerland. People also use their local expressions in text messages. The "What's up Switzerland" project is going to analyze WhatsApp messages. From what researchers have observed so far, people sometimes use regional expressions and don't always write the same way. They also add emoticons and images that replace words.
Image Description | Photograph of the interviewee, Federica Diémoz.
Image Tags | female(s)

A table tout le monde!

(Dinner time everybody!)

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Newspaper | Le Matin Dimanche
Date | 30.3.2014
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, texting, WhatsApp, youth
Summary | The author talks about her experiences at home; she created a dinner schedule so that her kids would notify her of whether or not they would be home for dinner. But the kids would never notify her in advance; they would text her at 19:00 saying they would not come home. Thus, one of the kids created a WhatsApp group for the family. It's fun! There are "ribs emojis" and "spaghetti emojis". They laugh a lot on WhatsApp, so she doesn't even realize that she is eating dinner by herself.
Image Description | Photograph of the author of the article.

“Pic speech”: le parler ado

(“Pic speech": teen talk)

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Newspaper | La Tribune de Genève
Date | 30.5.2015
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, Facebook, language threat, selfie, Snapchat, social media, WhatsApp, youth
Summary | Nowadays teenagers mostly express themselves through visual modes (e.g. Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat) and thus create their own language: “pic speech”. Images do not necessarily replace words; young people claim that words are still important since they contextualize images. Regarding emojis, teenagers use them for their “affective” purpose. This new language is a way for youth to become autonomous and emancipate themselves.
Image Description | Series of screenshots of different teenagers' snaps (selfie + Face Paint feature).
Image Tags | male(s), Snapchat

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