Of Emojis and Innovation

Key takeaways

Emojis serve not only as expressive tools but also as a reflection of modern communication's need for emotional nuance.
The Unicode Consortium plays a critical role in emoji standardization, ensuring that new additions are culturally sensitive and meaningful.
Creativity within the emoji domain showcases the tension between artistic expression and technological standardization.
Representation in emoji design remains a crucial issue, reflecting broader social dynamics and the importance of inclusive character representation.
Future discussions surrounding emojis (such as those anticipated at Emoji Con) will help shape the evolution of these symbols in communication.

Summary

The Origins and Impact of Emojis

The episode delves into the origins of emojis, emphasizing their rise from Japan and their role in modern communication. Emojis serve as a bridge between text and emotion, transforming how users express themselves in a textually dominated culture. As explained by guests Fred Benenson and Jennifer 8. Lee, emojis help convey emotional nuances that words alone cannot, highlighting their importance in enhancing digital conversations.

The Unicode Consortium and Emoji Approval Process

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the Unicode Consortium, which is responsible for standardizing emojis. The guests explain the criteria for approving new emojis, emphasizing that they must possess distinctive meanings and avoid ambiguity, while also remaining culturally sensitive. Various examples illustrate the complexities behind emoji representation, such as the case for the dumpling emoji and the political implications that emojis can embody.

The Economics of Emoji and Innovation

The conversation explores the economic underpinnings of emoji creation, from the initial ideas to the characters that eventually get standardized. Benenson explains his own project, 'Emoji Dick', that sought to translate Moby Dick into emojis, showcasing the creative possibilities and challenges that arise in using emojis. This segment emphasizes the interplay between creativity, technology, and standardization.

Emojis as a Reflection of Society

The discussion touches on the cultural significance of emojis, highlighting their ability to reflect societal changes and attitudes. The guests discuss representation issues, such as the diversity of skin tones and the roles assigned to various emojis, narrating how they can empower or limit expression based on their contextual use. The importance of including various identities in emoji design emerges as a crucial point.

Looking to the Future: Emoji Con and Beyond

The episode ends by previewing the upcoming Emoji Con, an event that they hope will galvanize emoji enthusiasts and foster discussions around emoji usage, culture, and politics. The possibility of emojis evolving into a more nuanced form of communication, alongside stickers and compound emojis, is also explored as the conversation wraps up, pointing towards an interesting future of digital expressive forms.

Show notes

This rerun podcast (first recorded in 2015, now being rerun as one of our evergreen classics/ favorites) -- is ALL about emoji. But it's really about how innovation really comes about: through the tension between open standards vs. closed/ proprietary systems; the politics of time and place; and the economics of creativity, from making to funding.

So yes, this podcast is all about emoji. But it's also about where emoji fits in the taxonomy of social communication, and why that matters -- from making emotions machine-readable to being able to add "limbic" visual expression to our world of text. And if emoji is a language, why can't we translate it; why so ambiguous?? How do emojis work, both technically underneath the hood... and in the (committee) Room Where It Happens?

Joining this episode are former VP of Data at Kickstarter Fred Benenson (and the man behind 'Emoji Dick'); and former New York Times reporter and current Unicode Emoji subcommittee vice-chair, Jennifer 8. Lee (and one of the women behind the dumpling emoji) -- in conversation with Sonal Chokshi.

image: Yiying Lu (@yiyinglu)

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