The emoticons that are gone, the changing emoticons, the number of emoticons are actually ... emoji.
The emoticons that expanded their activities with the spread of mobile phones from the late 1990s to the 2000s.In the 2010s, emoticons born in Japan entered the world on a smartphone, and began to be called "EMOJI" in English.
Not only has the frequency of users and the frequency of use, but the type of emoticons that can be used has increased, the options such as skin color and gender have expanded, and it seems that it has continued to grow, but it disappears in the process.In fact, there are many emoticons, expressions, and loss of sight.Art critic Paddy Johnson looks back on those lost emoticons.The following is Johnson.
Lost emoticons and losses mean
Do you like Google's "Blob" emoji?Eques such as yellow jelly, which could be used on Android only between 2013 and 2017, played a special role in the digital world.Google Blob expressed emotions on behalf of humans, sometimes transformed using hats, wigs and gloves, and expanded joy to Android OS.But in 2017, Google stopped this Blob and adopted a very ordinary emoticons, and began to express human expressions with a general round face.Similarly, from 2008 to 2018, Apple has an expressive image that has evolved into a human -like bunny girl, and has an expressive image as if a shell flapped on raw eggs.It has become a boring frying pan.
In the 2010s, huge software companies such as Google, Apple (Apple), Samsung (Samsung) and Microsoft (Microsoft) brought the highest small, but powerful changes to emoticons.These changes were not only reflecting the needs of users and tech companies, but also the results of various power struggles in the process.Looking back, changes in emoji not only change the way of communication, but also affects the content we want to convey and sometimes the way of thinking.
There are many lost emoticons that can't be helped even if they are forgotten. Mere expression changes were often inevitable. According to Jeremy Burge of CEO (CHIEF EMOJI Officer), the founder of EMOJIPEDIA (CHIEF EMOJI OFFICER), "It is difficult to remember emoticons that are regrettable as a non -Apple platform." Mr. Burge is an "minor loss" in the history of Apple's platforms, such as golf ball flags, dual shells become square, and Japanese school uniforms are worn at Western graduation ceremonies. It feels like a square hat with a bunch. But I want to refute. Golf balls are one of the most attractive objects in sports, and the icons of the big -shells can show the decoration of botticelli, sandy beaches, and bathrooms. It's a huge loss. Examples of torn caps are cultural imperialism itself.
Software companies have once revealed a good discussion on human rights and freedom protection.In 2019, when Facebook and Instagram banned the use of "contextual clear and general, sexual emoticons string" in the new community, adult communities were mad.This means that you should not put peach emoticons on the nude image.
The recent debate was that Apple erased the Taiwanese flag from the emoticon keyboard of users in Hong Kong and Macau.This is based on the intentions of the Chinese government and iOS 13 in 2019.1.The upgrade to 1 has changed quietly.Apple secretly supports the claim that the Chinese government thinks that "Taiwan is not a nation, Taiwan is part of China."
This decision does not directly affect the United States, but what happens if something similar happens in the United States? Wouldn't Apple cooperate with the Chinese government censorship for its own interests would do the same for the US government? GRETCHEN MCCULLOCH, who studied the language on the Internet and wrote "BECAUSE INTERNET", decided to judge Apple and the Chinese government to eliminate the Taiwanese flag and change the English notation of the Ukrainian capital of Ukraine by AP communication (motivation is different. (But). AP communication announced in August 2019 that the English notation of "Kyiv" would change from a conventional KIEV to a Ukrainian Kyiv, but the reason was "for many Ukrainans, the traditional KIEV is independent of Ukraine. It reminds me of the era of Russia and the Soviet Union, not the nation, so I feel outdated. "
The spoken language evolves organically, but it is smaller to determine communication standards, such as the scope of notation and emoticons, but still affects many people.AP communication has a strong influence on how to use the words of the news organization, but does not control how to write in ordinary people's emails and text messages.But Apple and Unicode have that power."In the case of Ukraine, it is recommended that people and the company can accept it. There is a big difference from the limited emoticons that can be physically hit," says McCulloch.
Difficulty of unifying emoticons
That doesn't mean that there is no democratic process in the emoticon world.Anyone can propose emoticons to the global character code standard, Unicode.However, the requirements for proposals are quite strict, and there are only about 50 cases every year.
If you look at the 2019 documentary work "Picture Character", you can see what images are important for humans.This work follows the emoticon proposal process to Unicode Consortium and records what was approved.Unicode Consortium, a non -profit organization, is developing, maintaining, and promoting an international standard to prevent the computer from finding it when someone in the world hits a computer keyboard.The process looks complicated for people who are not computer engineers, but encoding characters is similar to engraving letters on stones.Once encoded, it will remain forever.You cannot delete the code that assigns some characters later.
This rigidity is convenient for preserving the past and the current situation, but also has a drawback.There is a mistake, the abuse of power occurs, and the emoticons are lost.Consider that UNICODE standard is used in software companies such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft, while eliminating the possibility of changing characters after encoding.Since UNICODE accepting the proposal to incorporate 625 new emoticons into standards, we have decided to look and feel emoticons, and what will be emoticon and what will happen.is.
As the producer Fred Benenson of "Picture Character" has seen, the mistake that occurs in a system that can cause mistakes and power abuse by human hands is "incorporate human handwriting into digital".It supports the difficulty of tasks.As long as there is no mechanism to prevent censorship, there is a considerable possibility that emoticons will be lost in the future.Linguist Tyler Schnoebelen, who appears in Picture Character, has also been responsible for Unicode Consortium, pointing out that they have denied the responsibility to judge the appearance of standardized characters.
Like fonts, software companies are developing font sets, and Unicode Consortium cannot.For example, the emoticons of the flag of the golf course are "Flag in Hole", and the flags, halls, and green around it are generally composed, but it depends on the company whether or not to place golf balls next to the hall.
"Unicode has all bounced off the political questions about what each code point should represent to the user or software company. They do so in order to maintain the position of being neutral, but the toughness is.it is clear"
Schnoebelen is particularly concerned with the resolution committee that decides the emoticons to encode newly.To be a full -time member of the voting right, it costs $ 21,000 a year (about 2.3 million yen).Since it is not the amount of money paid by ordinary people, only the software companies with money and the government with some interests participate.
Changes in emoticons of guns
The decision is not born from nothing.It is common for non -profit organizations that for -profit companies are involved.In Apple's 2016 iOS 10 release, the design was renewed in response to repeated gunfire incidents, and pistol emoji was a green water gun.Apple did not comment on it and focused on the introduction of newly added emoticons, but their messages were clear.That is, "real guns are tightened out of the emoticon keyboard."
"In the history of EMOJIPEDIA's operation, the emoticon change has never been so criticized," Burge wrote on his blog at the time. According to Burge, the reaction to the water guns, from mocking to frustrated and angry, reflecting the cultural division of the United States on the theme. But many, including Burge, feared that this change would cause confusion between users. Initially, other software companies did not change the design of gun emoticons, so if you send the emoticons of the water gun to Android or various social media from the iPhone, it will be a real gun on the message recipient. It was. Burge strongly requested Apple to cancel the release of this emoticon to avoid misunderstandings between users, but Apple has released it without accepting it.
Two years later, EMOJIPEDIA said in the "Emoji Integration Year", software companies unified the appearance of Unicode characters.The emoticons of the gun are also eligible.The user who was dissatisfied with the message of the message finally saw the sun.Until then, the problem was not only a gun, but the emoticon with a shock, for example, the emoticon whose face was blue, but another platform was a great face.However, because the software company has unified the fonts, the emoticons of poo are now as standard that they have a laughing face like a soft ice cream, so Google used before, and around without a face.It's not the one that the flies are flying around.The gun was completely replaced from real to toys.
Nevertheless, the problem still remained after doing so far.When I asked the Digital Art non -profit organization Rhizome Preservation Director, Dragon Espenschied, I received about two pages that I thought it was a simple question.Did Rhizome's Web Archive Service WebRecorder call the emoticons updated from past web documents?The answer was no, and Espenchied pointed out that some platform procedures were almost inevitable.
"If you try to read the 2014 tweets now, Twitter will send a 2020 emoticon set to the browser," said Espenchied."In other words, we get caught something that may be wrong."
Those who build digital archives call the differentials created by such a time lag "zombies."
Problems beyond the meaning of meaning
The emoticons of the gun propose a problem that is more than a loss of meaning due to the design change.The true big problem that should be asked about emoticons is, "Does the design change over time to change the usage of our emoji?"Jane Solomon, who wrote about (how the emoticons written before and after the gun can change the meaning).Solomon says the answer to the above question is "definitely Jesus."
However, with regard to guns, the gun symbolic is too strong to be affected by the design change.Associate Professor of Colombia University of Colombia at the SXSW panel "Let's Talk About the Gun Emoji" compiled by Solomon.According to Patton, it was the same as a real gun, even if the emoticon gun turned into a water gun.
So if the thing is emoticons like a gun, it may maintain the original meaning even if the design changes slightly.But if the design of the emoticons of the face changes, the story will be different again.For example, the emoji named "Bearing Face with Smiling Eyes" (smiling face with eyes) is laughing clearly when the current design rises, but in the iOS before 2016, I clenched my teeth.Only the eyes were laughing in the form of the mouth spreading sideways, and the expression was like "beetle" or "e".
The impressions of seeing the old and new faces are different, and in the last few years, humans have evolved rapidly and the interpretation of facial expressions will not change.According to Alicia Eler, the author of Selfie Generation and a visual art critic, MinneaPolis Star Tribune, Alicia Eler is a user level.One character with a sad face may express the true sadness, but women who are trying to express unstable emotions by arranging six sad faces should actually use emoticons to keep their distance from the other party.It may be.
We use emoji because it represents the tone of words and makes the message more beautiful.Emoji specializes in the function of "para linguistic".Para language is not just a substitute for words, but a nuance and meaning of what is written in words.In the above Picture Character, linguist Schnoebelen describes the role of emoji as "happiness work."
"The most popular thing ever (emoticon) is Smile face and heart," he says.Emoji can be seen better than words, red heart conveys love and sympathy in an instant, and black hearts represent sick, sad, and dark humor.According to Eler, emoticons are "soft shared methods because they are standardized images" from Selfie."Emoji is a safer emotional expression. It is less damaged and clearer. It is a soft emotion."
But there is a punch in the soft emotions.To Benenson, I asked why I was particular about the emoticons since I published "Emoji Dick" (the emoji translation of "White Whale") in 2010, and I wanted to know what images are important.was."(Emoji) is a symbol that we have decided to incorporate into the software, and it is the forefront that affects humans," he said.In other words, emoji is an image that we have decided to store forever.
In 2015, the emoticon keyboard was enabled for all iOS users, and emphasis keyboards have supported the worldwide spread.According to Benenson, emoji was a very important communication tool with emoji on the keyboard, the most valuable place in the digital world."Emoji is used in the most intimate interaction with friends and family, which is bigger than the app," he says."Ultimately, it's about power."
Two times when emoticons were lost
The history of emoji is a stale place, but it supports Benenson's views above.Burge states that emoticon loss was divided into two times in 2010 and 2016, and most of the loss was in the latter.In 2010, UNICODE accepted all of the emoticons used in Japanese mobile phones, except for the emoticons of Shibuya109.Shibuya109 was rejected because UNICODE would not encode the brand.
2016 is when Apple replaced almost all emoticons that were at 1090 code points to a more detailed 3D style design.Some emoticons remained faithful to the previous version, but the wolf face, for example, the wolf face became a rat -like face.The shining comet was like a red female genital, and the bus stop became like a real bus stop.
UNICODE's Zero Width Join (ZWJ) allows you to attach a continuous emoji to make new character expressions, but looking back on its existence, Benenson's hypothesis begins to persuade.With the ZWJ, software companies can display continuous emoji as one.For example, one of the two characters, a runner emoticon and a female symbol, can now be represented by a female runner emoticon.This is also used to give human emoji a skin -colored variation.There are many people who want to express themselves as faithfully and accurately.
It seems that there are not many people who think that it is a loss to make emoji clean or express their personality, but solving something tends to create another new problem.Solomon points out:
"It is a big problem that the default of the face and human emoticons is yellow, which means that the default means whitish color.It has been greatly damaged. "
This also supports the emoji of the family.If you are a single person, you can choose various skin colors, but all the families are only yellow.APARNA NANCHERLA, a comedian in Netflix's "THE STANDUPS", ridicules this option as "Arian Nations (translated by white supreme) starter kit".
How much can emoticons express identity?
"There is always a fundamental tension between what many people seek and those that can be approved by UNICODE Consortium and companies."
Jennifer 8 Lee, a founder of Emojination, says in Picture Character.The combination of races, gender, religion, and physical characteristics is almost infinite."At some point, we will see tens of thousands of new letters. This system may be crushed by huge demand."
Google's emoticon creative director Jennifer Daniel is also exposing similar concerns.She thinks that by increasing the details of emoticons and skin color every year, she will create a "non -target zone".She is concerned that more and more people who can express emoticons and culture will increase more people.
"One of the motivations for gender -inclusive activities is to regain what emoticons were good at first, that is, that's universal," Daniel wrote in email.Solomon mentioned earlier says that some emoticons that are no longer from Google Blob are an example of a great loss.He says, for example, the expressive power of the dancing woman's emoticons of the Google Blob version, and says, "I feel sympathetic."
Most software companies are currently depicting the danced women's emoticons as sexy or dynamic dancers.But from 2014 to 2016, Google Blob's dancers danced without shame.But the dancers on other platforms were dancing more neatly, so when I sent this emoticon from Android, Solomon called "a lot of meaning from the sender to the recipient."Google Blob, who danced with a rose in his mouth, was converted into a sexy dancer and could not convey its original meaning.
"Google Blob was a really good answer to the question of how emoticons could be gender, gender, and inclusive," said Solomon."I was able to make more meanings because I didn't be too conscious of gender with Blob."
SOLOMON also includes a picture of a Hat with a hat called "Person Tipping Hand" (usually called "Information Help Desk Girl").Like a dancer, this Blob clearly feels humanity.She is a woman with a nice, white gloved service.
Solomon lamented the loss of BLOB, which was fun in terms of design, and associated that the number of emoticons was limited to user creativity.For example, a cactus is a substitute for the hand with the middle finger standing.Conversely, if you try to express the reality too faithfully, it will become an eerie AR emoji and Me.
Of course, there are similar restrictions, even if you use the current new emoticons.That's why any Americans under the age of 40 are ejaculated with emoticons of "eggplant + sweat", marijuana with "maple leaves + fire", or nail emoticons, "If you talk to you, you can apply nails with nails.Wow is "Wow".On the other hand, rarely used watches, safety pins, and flashlight emoticons also occupy valuable keyboards.Understanding what emoticons are required and being used requires careful approaches and support for software companies, but data has not been released until last year.
All you need is to increase the number of code points to assign characters.UNICODE has about 1 million spaces (strictly 1114,112), and only about a quarter of them.By the way, 25,000 cases of Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters alone are used, and 300 arrows are more than twice as much as the basic Latin characters (such as alphabets)."I don't know how much space will be used in the end."ROZBEH POURNADER, a member of the UNICODE Technical Committee, said unofficially."But it's hard to imagine that the space will be full. As long as you contact the outside civilization and incorporate the description system into UNICODE."
Movement to try to regain lost things
It is not impossible to change the existing Unicode standard, but what has been lost by design is not always lost.Google's Daniel carefully explained how they are trying to regain or change emoticons and contribute to the vocabulary that can be used by users.
For example, in 2018, we recommend using gender neutral emoticons with 16 pages of documents, and proposes all changes with gender emoticons except seven.They believe that the proposals are so that the software companies arrange the same emoticons into different expressions, promoting stereotypes and confusing messages.
Daniel has pointed out the default male construction worker as a problem, indicating its structural solution.Daniel believes that it is better to make more common expressions, not to prepare hundreds of patterns and gender of construction workers, and argue that it will save the keyboard space.。"In a sense, Google's no -gender Blob emoji was correct from the beginning," said Daniel."Sometimes progress sometimes overturns legacy judgments."
Other than these big initiatives, Daniel has issued some joint proposals.One of them is a revival proposal for "tears holding tears."This face was previously used instead of a "confused face", but it was no longer used.In addition, she proposes a new emoticon code point for "face with x -it's x".There are still emoticons on the face with the eyes of ×, but this design is called “Dizzy face” in Unicode, and depending on the platform, the eyes are × and the swirls are mixed.EMOJIPEDIA also points out that it is necessary.In order to eliminate this mixture, she proposes a new code point for "face with x -it's x".
These additional proposals usually take about two years to implement.In the process, there are not only reviews and voting, but also encoding work that was selected.Changes gradually occur as democracy, but have a significant impact on our lives.
First, look back on what you lost
In a digital environment that puts the language into a mold, I feel that the nature of the emoticons in the middle of emoticons reflects this era very well.Net -native languages evolve to create a strong system to protect it.But these systems do not have a weak point.Operating companies are not as responsible for the public as non -profit companies.When a small group judges for a large number of people, it is easier to give up the honesty of the decision -making process.The constant redesign of the web increases the collective memory loss, and we tend to forget to look back.
This may seem low in urgency, but it is actually most important.It may be important to look forward.But if you don't start to verify how the creativity and expressiveness of emoticons will be lost, wouldn't you even understand what they are protecting?
Source: Emojipedia, Unicode Consortium (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), Wikipedia (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), Twitter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), Facebook, AP,Business Insider, Picture Character, Fast Company, Rhizome, WebRecorder, Jane Solomon
