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Has anyone else here been thinking "How can I implement a solution to this particular method of online communication?" while reading this article? I guess emot

Has anyone else here been thinking "How can I implement a solution to this particular method of online communication?" while reading this article? I guess emoticons, bold, and italics seem fine, but perhaps there should be some professional standard or a completely dynamic and alternate device. (Like a program to leave voice messages on web pages to accompany text or something similar as an example. This is a bad idea by the way... I am just using it as a conversation starter on this topic.)

joe_the_user 17y ago
Hmm, Despite the limitations of the written word, human authors have been producing written works with profound emotional impact for thousands of years. And without emoticons! It's true it requires concentration and imagination to read Shakespeare (with full impact) than it takes see his plays performed. Still, a vast emotional "punch" can be contained in the written word, just requiring a bit of effort to extract.
- arohner 17y ago
  True, but not everyone is Shakespeare.
- rimantas 17y ago
  Just a thought: if said work is of substantial length then you have enough context/space to express all the subtleties by other means. In case of the message limited to 140 characters or email one-liner you need some crutches to the same. Are we trading 5 lines of email for one ":)"?
  - joe_the_user 17y ago
    Well, there's the works of Sapho and Haiku as example of evocative short works. It does take effort to produce such things. And even then they require some cultural context.
  - d0mine 17y ago
    A counter-example in six words: For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. http://www.litkicks.com/FlashFiction/ http://www.litkicks.com/FlashFiction/ See, no emoticons :)
    - billswift 17y ago
      That sort of works as fiction, in part because it is so ambiguous - it could be anything from a tragedy to a farce.
mrshoe 17y ago
I know I certainly am. We're building a group chat application for companies (http://shoptalkapp.com http://shoptalkapp.com), so this is a very real problem for our users. We'll definitely be brainstorming ways to overcome it. I think a good system for indicating tone could make online communication much more pleasant and effective.
nollidge 17y ago
I think the answer, if you don't wish to mark up your text, is to be verbose in your intentions. A message like "Great idea." is easier to misinterpret than "Great idea! Seriously, I never thought of it that way." Qualifiers can go a long way. They might be clumsy, but I think they're the best alternative.

joe_the_user 17y ago

Hmm, Despite the limitations of the written word, human authors have been producing written works with profound emotional impact for thousands of years. And without emoticons! It's true it requires concentration and imagination to read Shakespeare (with full impact) than it takes see his plays performed. Still, a vast emotional "punch" can be contained in the written word, just requiring a bit of effort to extract.

arohner 17y ago
True, but not everyone is Shakespeare.
rimantas 17y ago
Just a thought: if said work is of substantial length then you have enough context/space to express all the subtleties by other means. In case of the message limited to 140 characters or email one-liner you need some crutches to the same. Are we trading 5 lines of email for one ":)"?
- joe_the_user 17y ago
  Well, there's the works of Sapho and Haiku as example of evocative short works. It does take effort to produce such things. And even then they require some cultural context.
- d0mine 17y ago
  A counter-example in six words: For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. http://www.litkicks.com/FlashFiction/ http://www.litkicks.com/FlashFiction/ See, no emoticons :)
  - billswift 17y ago
    That sort of works as fiction, in part because it is so ambiguous - it could be anything from a tragedy to a farce.

mrshoe 17y ago

I know I certainly am. We're building a group chat application for companies (http://shoptalkapp.com http://shoptalkapp.com), so this is a very real problem for our users. We'll definitely be brainstorming ways to overcome it. I think a good system for indicating tone could make online communication much more pleasant and effective.

nollidge 17y ago

I think the answer, if you don't wish to mark up your text, is to be verbose in your intentions. A message like "Great idea." is easier to misinterpret than "Great idea! Seriously, I never thought of it that way." Qualifiers can go a long way. They might be clumsy, but I think they're the best alternative.