Examples Of Emoji Encoding

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WHAT EMOJI TELL US ABOUT ENCODING They’re our punchlines. They’re our kisses. They’re our favourite way to share a lol. Emoji do a lot of work for us. But sometimes emoji don’t show up properly, even though the text around them comes through just fine. Why is that? What is going on? If you’ve ever seen this in a text or chat window, you have witnessed one of the most fascinating facets of emoji! [INSERT PICTURE OF TEXT WITH EMOJI ERROR] Emoji are an example of encoding at work. Emojis are transmitted as code! You probably aren’t thinking about the rules of encoding when sending a text-based message. But when you see an emoji error like this one [INSERT PICTURE OF EMOJI WITH SKIN OR GENDER MODIFIER AFTER] you’re getting a tiny taste …show more content…

Encoding is a set of rules that standardizes how we represent letters and emoji in a way that computers understand — binary. And because there are so many different programmers out there, we need a global body of rule-makers to help us all agree on how we encode data. Standardized encoding is essential when we want to communicate with other devices. Binary is just ones and zeros, right? We all need to agree on which combination of ones and zeros means “a”. And which combo means capital “A”. And which combo means “smiley-face with tongue sticking out” emoji. Since the dawn of digital technology, several encoding systems have been created. As technology has become faster and able to store more information, we’ve been able to develop longer lists of encoding rules. Today, most programs use one set of rules for human languages: Unicode. The global organization managing these rules is the Unicode Consortium [https://unicode.org/]. They continually add to a master chart of encoding rules called the Unicode Standard. This standard contains a unique identifying name for each character we type in our electronic devices. So far, the list has 136,690 characters spanning 50+ …show more content…

Supporting new emoji characters involves additions to fonts, enhancements to emoji input methods (keyboards or palettes), and often updates to libraries that determine character properties and behavior (such as word selection or line breaking). Depending on release cycle length and timing relative to a Unicode release, it may take a year or so for new Unicode characters to appear on phones and other platforms.” The Unicode Consortium does not require software creators to comply with suggested emoji updates, but they do filter new emoji proposals by anticipated adoption rates. According to their proposal submission process guide, Unicode’s homing in on ideas that are likely to be used by millions of people. They also aim for ideas that will likely be picked up by the leading platform vendors: Google, Apple, Twitter, Facebook and Windows. All of these organizations are members of the Unicode Consortium. Unicode also seeks input through public reviews, an annual conference, volunteer roles, and emoji proposal submissions from the public. (For more details on participation in Unicode decision-making, see Unicode’s list of members and their membership FAQ.) WHAT DEVELOPERS NEED TO

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