Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 6
Posts 1 - 6

Sie strengt sich nicht mal an

(She's not even trying)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 16.8.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, politics, YouTube
Summary | Angela Merkel was interviewed by German YouTubers and she succeeded in not adapting the the speediness of the internet and keeping her calm, slow speaking voice. To the question what her favorite emoji is, she said that she likes the smiling one. She does not very much identify with the angry emoji.
Image Description | Photograph of Angela Merkel and a YouTuber.
Image Tags | female(s)

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

Mein Wort in Bots Ohr

(My word in bot's ear)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 29.6.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, emojis, misunderstanding, research/study
Summary | Chatbots are currently exploding. Some say that by 2020 humans will communicate with chatbots more than with other humans. Chatbots are digital chat partners that help organize one's schedule, keep track of shopping lists, can help book holidays, and provide various other information from within a mesaging app. Polls show, however, that only one in four people would consider using a chatbot right now. That may be because they do not understand all questions yet and there is room for improvement. They are designed to be great digital conversationalists using a lot of emojis.
Image Description | An illustration visualizing the use of many chatbots while shopping at a grocery store.

"Heute wird einfach gute Stimmung gemacht"

("Nowadays, it's all about creating a good mood")

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 6.6.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, politics, selfie, Snapchat, social media
Summary | Selfies on social media can have huge currency. They serve celebrities and politicians to style themselves as down-to-earth. Taylor Swift further includes cats in her selfies for the additional cuteness factor. Angela Merkel's selfie with a refugee has served to send the message that refugees are welcome in Germany. Selfies can also be seen as inspired by emojis; people mimick the facial expressions or use a Snapchat filter to emulate emojis.
Image Description | Portrait of the interviewee holding a smiley balloon.
Image Tags | emojis, male(s)

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.

Punkt: Am Ende

(Period: the end)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 31.3.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | diversity, emojis, language threat, punctuation, research/study, texting
Summary | The neutral punctuation mark "." is disappearing from our written language. The most likely reason is that with text messages we no longer need a period to tell us when a sentence is finished. Linguists are not worried about the extinction of the period. Language is ever-changing, they say. It is quite sad though, that the period is being omitted more and more and hardly anyone cares. All debates now center around emojis: can Apple just replace the gun emoji with a water pistol one? Is it racist to use a black emoji as a White person?
Image Description | The sunset over the ocean.

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