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I found this task both frustrating and enjoyable (and had a great time getting my husband to read my story as I worked on it since we have been watching the TV show together). I ended up using the emoji keyboard that comes preloaded on iPhones. I typed the story in my notes and then e-mailed it to myself. When I copy and pasted it into e-mails the emojis did change slightly in appearance, but not enough for me to swap any of them out. I started with the title and laughed to myself as I realized how hard it was going to be to try and explain the show with the limited emojis that are available.
I used mostly ideas to construct the title and the plot description. I did this out of habit and also because a lot of the words I was looking for do not exist in emoji form. I assumed it would be easier to try and get the idea of the show across rather than try to represent certain words, which would have made it more of a riddle. Apple rid of their hand gun emoji in 2016 (Ortega, 2022) after controversy arose over Apple condoning gun violence. Because the show I chose to decipher is fairly violent, it made it challenging to convey those messages without having access to certain emojis. I found it really challenging to find emojis that represented verbs as well. For example, bite or eat was hard to represent.
Kress (2005) suggests that images are up for interpretation depending on which reader is the audience at a certain time. Compared to traditional written work, images leave interpretation to the imagination and how the reader connects those to the world using their life experiences. I love the use of emojis to connect to the life stories of different readers. Emojis are cross cultural as well, as they are their own language, that can be understood across the globe. However, depending on how the readers perceive certain emojis depends on culture, demographics, and society. For example “the angel or halo emoji (???? ) is regarded as threatening and a symbol of death in China, in Western cultures, it is used as a symbol of innocence. The applause emoji (????) is similarly different in different cultures. For example, while it symbolizes congratulations or praise in Western cultures, Chinese people consider it a symbol of making love.” (Erceber, 2022). From personal experience, one of the emojis I used, the smiley face with the hands up, can be interpreted as someone hugging or someone making a ‘yay’ gesture. I suppose those have similar meanings, but can mean completely different things depending on the context. In this case, the emoji is meant to represent a hug.
Honestly, who knows if anyone will guess it. If you are currently watching this show, you will DEFINITELY get it. But, if you have not seen it, chances are you definitely won’t.
References
Hi Jessie! Your emoji story wouldn’t happen to be The Last of Us, would it? I’m basing this on the mushroom and zombie emoji in the first line, as well as the game controller emoji next to the film clapper board (given that the show is based on a video game).
In addition to exploring the various cultural interpretations of visual symbols and gestures, you note how emojis appeared differently when viewed on a different device. Miller et al. (2016) suggests that cross-platform differences in emoji can result in miscommunication, such as misinterpreting the emotional sentiment behind someone’s use of emoji. In one particular example, Fedewa (2022) illustrates how the frowning emoji on an Apple device is represented with a more angrier looking emoji on a Samsung device. It’s clear how the differences between the two can significantly change the emotional meaning of the original message for the recipient.
Having switched between Android and Apple devices over the years, I can understand how frustrating this cross-platform variability be when it comes to writing/receiving messages with emoji. In fact, it’s partly why I decided to take a screenshot of my own emoji story, so that it would be represented exactly as how I see it on my own device. Given the unlikelihood of a universal cross-platform emoji set, Miller et al. (2018) proposes tools to help users preview what their emojis would look across platforms to help mitigate miscommunication/interpretation. As someone who values intentionality in how I communicate with emoji, I would love to see this become a standard feature across all devices.
Thanks for sharing!
References
Fedewa, J. (2022, February 11). That emoji might not look the same on your friend’s phone. How-To Geek. https://www.howtogeek.com/784832/that-emoji-might-not-look-the-same-on-your-friends-phone/
Miller, H., Thebault-Spieker, J., Chang, S., Johnson, I., Terveen, L., & Hecht, B. (2016). “Blissfully happy” or “Ready to Fight”: Varying interpretations of emoji. Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, 10(1), 259-268. https://doi.org/10.1609/icwsm.v10i1.14757
Miller, H., Levonian, Z., Kluver, D., Terveen, L., & Hecht, B. (2018). What I see is what you don’t get: The effects of (not) seeing emoji rendering differences across platforms. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 2(CSCW), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1145/3274393