Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 27
Posts 11 - 20

Die Frau, die ungewollt mit Emojis ein Haus mietete

(The woman who inadvertently rented a house with emojis)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 24.5.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, law, misunderstanding
Summary | The debate around whether emojis count as words or seriously meaningful content is very heated - not only in academics but also in law. The Oxford English dictionary only reheated that fire by choosing an emoji as word of the year. Multiple law cases have centered on misunderstandings around emoji use, most recently a case where a woman indicated interest in renting a house with emojis (flamenco dancer, dancer girls, squirrel, comet, a victory sign, and a bottle of Champagne). The house owner sued her for using misleading emojis after she decided not to rent the house after all.
Image Description | An image of a woman's hand holding a smartphone and picking out an emoji and a portrait of the Israely judge who worked on the emoji case.
Image Tags | emojis, female(s), hand(s), male(s), smartphone

Das neue iMessage strapaziert die Nerven

(The new iMessage gets on my nerves)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 15.9.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, texting, word/writing
Summary | The updated iMessage has tons of new functions. It suggests appropriate emojis to replace words of a message, it now has sticker packages like the Facebook Messenger and allows for text messages to be animated. Users can also send short handwritten Messages - that it if they can still write by hand. All of the updates combined make for a much more obnoxious iMessage service.
Image Description | Images of iPhones using iMessage.
Image Tags | smartphone

"Ich bin dein Sohn!"

("I am your son!")

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 6.4.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | childhood, emojis, texting, YouTube
Summary | It is interesting to watch children develop a texting personality. As they grow up with new media, they use them quite naturally. They easily incorporate emojis, use audio messages, or share YouTube videos. Texting humor is also learned quite automatically.
Image Description | Image of a boy holding a smartphone.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

Ein Update für Emoji-Fans

(An update for emoji fans)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 13.12.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis
Summary | The new Apple update includes 70 new emojis entered by the Unicode Consortium: various new animals, vegetables, bacon, doner kebab, a scary clown, a pinocchio nose, as well as a facepalm emoji. Thanks to the new pregnant woman emoji, pregnancy announcements can now be made with a minimal character count.
Image Description | Keystone image of hands holding an iPhone and another iPhone lying next to it.
Image Tags | hand(s), smartphone

Emoji overload? Why we're ditching yellow smileys in favour of actual words

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 22.7.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat
Summary | The author explain why she hates emojis. She dislikes the fact that people can now type a word and replace it with the correspondant emoji. Some technologies have significantly improved our lives, but our emotional communication didn't need to be improved like that, according to the author. Words were fine; there is no need to regress back to "hieroglyphics".
Image Description | Photograph of a young woman smiling and looking at her phone.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

¿Limitan los emoticonos nuestra capacidad de expresión?

(Do emojis limit our capacity to express ourselves?)

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Newspaper | El País
Date | 27.10.2016
Language | Spanish
Country | Spain
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, translation
Summary | The fact that Fred Benenson translated Moby Dick in emojis actually reflects the importance of emojis in today's society. Our keyboards can already offer emoji alternatives to written words. After thousands of years of progress, are we regressing back to the Egyptian time? Some people fear that the rise of emoji might limit our capacity to express ourselves and lead us to simplicity. Those who defend emojis claim that they are the natural result of the evolution of communication.
Image Description | Photograph of a hand holding a smartphone; on the screen there is a text conversation with emojis
Image Tags | emojis, hand(s), smartphone, text

Will emoji become a new language?

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Newspaper | BBC News
Date | 13.10.2015
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis, grammar, language threat
Summary | Linguist Neil Cohn explains why emojis cannot be considered a new language and why they shouldn't be seen as a threat to language. Emojis don't have the same characteristics as other languages. Emojis are used to complement words, as we would use gestures along speech. Sometimes, people use long sequences of emojis to communicate, but they are not a language since they lack a grammar. Cohn talks about his book The Visual Language of Comics and explains what visual languages are. The visual language of comics does not work the same way as emojis; it's a language that has a grammar.
Image Description | Photograph of a series of emojis on a screen, photograph of a hand gesture, sreenshots of text message conversations with emojis, and photograph of a library of comic books.
Image Tags | emojis, hand(s), smartphone, text

Can a GIF Work Better Than Words?

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 21.9.2015
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | emojis, GIFs, language threat, word/writing
Summary | An interviewee claims that using GIFs allows her to express complex feelings and emotions in a a couple seconds. GIFs are becoming more and more popular (i.e. on Facebook, Tumblr, etc.). Words and emojis are becoming old-fashioned.
Image Description | GIF representing three men looking at their smartphone.
Image Tags | gifs, male(s), smartphone

New Yorker MoMA nimmt Original-Emojis in Sammlung auf

(New Yorker MoMA takes up original emojis in their collection)

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Newspaper | Hamburger Abendblatt
Date | 1.11.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis
Summary | The New York Museum of Modern Art is displaying the original emojis from 1999 in their lobby. They were originally first black and white before they became colored (with six colors) and measured mere 12 pixels. The museum is also exhibiting a video game and the @ symbol.
Image Description | A hand picking an emoji on a smartphone screen.
Image Tags | emojis, hand(s), smartphone

Endlich kommt das Emoji, auf das die Welt gewartet hat

(The emoji everyone has been waiting for is finally here)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 2.11.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | diversity, emojis
Summary | 72 new emojis will be added with the next apple update: a selfie emoji, a facepalm emoji, a male dancer, prince, and Mrs. Santa Claus emoji as well as bacon, croissant, and spoon emojis. What German users are however most excited about is the doner kebab emoji which the Unicode Consortium has plainly named "stuffed flat bread".
Image Description | Video about the new emojis.
Image Tags | emojis, hand(s), smartphone

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