4月20日,在新品繁多的蘋果公司(Apple)發(fā)布會上,一項功能的發(fā)布似乎最不引人注目——蘋果宣布在所有新鍵盤上增加一個專用按鍵,用于打開表情符號選擇器。按照現(xiàn)有的功能,要想在Mac上呼出表情符號選擇器,必須要牢記Command-Control-Space這一組合按鍵,在Windows上則是同時按下Windows鍵和分號鍵。而我的腦子從來就沒記住過這些快捷鍵,每次都必須要借助谷歌(Google)的搜索功能(現(xiàn)在我寫這篇文章的時候也是如此)。所以說,新的專用按鍵似乎是一個巨大的勝利。
從技術(shù)上講,要想創(chuàng)建和更新出現(xiàn)在我們設(shè)備上的表情符號,就要依靠計算平臺的擁有者,比如蘋果的Mac和iPhone、谷歌的安卓(Android)和微軟(Microsoft)的Windows。但它們都是使用Unicode聯(lián)盟(Unicode Consortium)的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)表情符號集,該組織早就確定了不同語言的鍵盤設(shè)置如何與計算機接口。谷歌的設(shè)計師詹妮弗·丹尼爾現(xiàn)在是該聯(lián)盟表情符號小組委員會的負(fù)責(zé)人,該小組委員會每年都會修改表情符號集。本周我和她討論了關(guān)于表情挑選的問題,她所面臨的挑戰(zhàn)是哪些新的小卡通表情可以安裝在數(shù)十億個鍵盤上,而哪些卻不能。
在五年前加入谷歌之前,丹尼爾是新聞媒體的一名設(shè)計師,曾經(jīng)擔(dān)任《紐約時報》(New York Times)的圖形編輯和《彭博商業(yè)周刊》(Bloomberg Businessweek)的圖形總監(jiān)。她一直深愛著emoji。2014年,她在《紐約時報》上發(fā)表了一篇題為《我們真正需要的emoji》(The emojis We Really Need)的文章,首次將自己的想法公之于眾。之后,她又在畫廊舉辦了一場名為“我希望存在的emoji”(Emojis I wish existed)的藝術(shù)展。
“最棒的地方在于,emoji很容易接近。”她在電話采訪時告訴我,“它不是什么高雅藝術(shù),我也不是那種戴著單片眼鏡來跟你談美術(shù)的藝術(shù)家。我們只是在探索,我們可以做些什么?!?/p>
在撰寫評論文章的同時,丹尼爾開始認(rèn)真對待emoji世界,并向Unicode聯(lián)盟提交了正式的申請,提出了新的emoji概念——一個人在鏡子里看到自己的倒影的表情,一個代表存在主義的理念。申請并沒有成功。但那張含著眼淚的笑臉(或者是喜悅的淚水),目前已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)在了我們的鍵盤上。在谷歌負(fù)責(zé)幾年emoji之后,她于2018年加入了該小組委員會。當(dāng)長任主席(兼Unicode聯(lián)盟主席)的馬克·戴維斯在一年多前卸任后,她接任了主席一職。
只要填好表格,任何人都能夠提交一份emoji申請。委員會的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)繁多復(fù)雜,每年挑選30個左右的新表情。丹尼爾說:“我們主要關(guān)注emoji的交流性功能,因為它們主要用于信息交流領(lǐng)域?!贝送猓碌膃moji還應(yīng)當(dāng)反映“全球性的概念”,可以是對世界上所有人或某一特定群體有意義的東西。
不過,在未來,人們或許能夠突破聯(lián)盟列表內(nèi)emoji的限制,創(chuàng)造自己的表情。雖然在網(wǎng)頁中創(chuàng)作帶有HTML代碼的圖像有明確標(biāo)準(zhǔn),但在消息應(yīng)用程序和文字處理器文檔中創(chuàng)作小圖像,并沒有所謂的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)界限。Slack和Discord等應(yīng)用程序已經(jīng)允許群組添加自己創(chuàng)作的小圖標(biāo)作為emoji使用。
“Unicode聯(lián)盟不能包辦一切。我們正在嘗試尋找新的編碼途徑?!彼f,“語言是人類思想相互作用的結(jié)果,不可阻擋。找到一種方法,能夠?qū)⑺枷胝Z言在數(shù)字空間中‘翻譯’出來,這是我的首要考慮?!保ㄘ敻恢形木W(wǎng))
編譯:楊二一
4月20日,在新品繁多的蘋果公司(Apple)發(fā)布會上,一項功能的發(fā)布似乎最不引人注目——蘋果宣布在所有新鍵盤上增加一個專用按鍵,用于打開表情符號選擇器。按照現(xiàn)有的功能,要想在Mac上呼出表情符號選擇器,必須要牢記Command-Control-Space這一組合按鍵,在Windows上則是同時按下Windows鍵和分號鍵。而我的腦子從來就沒記住過這些快捷鍵,每次都必須要借助谷歌(Google)的搜索功能(現(xiàn)在我寫這篇文章的時候也是如此)。所以說,新的專用按鍵似乎是一個巨大的勝利。
從技術(shù)上講,要想創(chuàng)建和更新出現(xiàn)在我們設(shè)備上的表情符號,就要依靠計算平臺的擁有者,比如蘋果的Mac和iPhone、谷歌的安卓(Android)和微軟(Microsoft)的Windows。但它們都是使用Unicode聯(lián)盟(Unicode Consortium)的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)表情符號集,該組織早就確定了不同語言的鍵盤設(shè)置如何與計算機接口。谷歌的設(shè)計師詹妮弗·丹尼爾現(xiàn)在是該聯(lián)盟表情符號小組委員會的負(fù)責(zé)人,該小組委員會每年都會修改表情符號集。本周我和她討論了關(guān)于表情挑選的問題,她所面臨的挑戰(zhàn)是哪些新的小卡通表情可以安裝在數(shù)十億個鍵盤上,而哪些卻不能。
在五年前加入谷歌之前,丹尼爾是新聞媒體的一名設(shè)計師,曾經(jīng)擔(dān)任《紐約時報》(New York Times)的圖形編輯和《彭博商業(yè)周刊》(Bloomberg Businessweek)的圖形總監(jiān)。她一直深愛著emoji。2014年,她在《紐約時報》上發(fā)表了一篇題為《我們真正需要的emoji》(The emojis We Really Need)的文章,首次將自己的想法公之于眾。之后,她又在畫廊舉辦了一場名為“我希望存在的emoji”(Emojis I wish existed)的藝術(shù)展。
“最棒的地方在于,emoji很容易接近?!彼陔娫挷稍L時告訴我,“它不是什么高雅藝術(shù),我也不是那種戴著單片眼鏡來跟你談美術(shù)的藝術(shù)家。我們只是在探索,我們可以做些什么?!?/p>
在撰寫評論文章的同時,丹尼爾開始認(rèn)真對待emoji世界,并向Unicode聯(lián)盟提交了正式的申請,提出了新的emoji概念——一個人在鏡子里看到自己的倒影的表情,一個代表存在主義的理念。申請并沒有成功。但那張含著眼淚的笑臉(或者是喜悅的淚水),目前已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)在了我們的鍵盤上。在谷歌負(fù)責(zé)幾年emoji之后,她于2018年加入了該小組委員會。當(dāng)長任主席(兼Unicode聯(lián)盟主席)的馬克·戴維斯在一年多前卸任后,她接任了主席一職。
只要填好表格,任何人都能夠提交一份emoji申請。委員會的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)繁多復(fù)雜,每年挑選30個左右的新表情。丹尼爾說:“我們主要關(guān)注emoji的交流性功能,因為它們主要用于信息交流領(lǐng)域?!贝送?,新的emoji還應(yīng)當(dāng)反映“全球性的概念”,可以是對世界上所有人或某一特定群體有意義的東西。
不過,在未來,人們或許能夠突破聯(lián)盟列表內(nèi)emoji的限制,創(chuàng)造自己的表情。雖然在網(wǎng)頁中創(chuàng)作帶有HTML代碼的圖像有明確標(biāo)準(zhǔn),但在消息應(yīng)用程序和文字處理器文檔中創(chuàng)作小圖像,并沒有所謂的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)界限。Slack和Discord等應(yīng)用程序已經(jīng)允許群組添加自己創(chuàng)作的小圖標(biāo)作為emoji使用。
“Unicode聯(lián)盟不能包辦一切。我們正在嘗試尋找新的編碼途徑?!彼f,“語言是人類思想相互作用的結(jié)果,不可阻擋。找到一種方法,能夠?qū)⑺枷胝Z言在數(shù)字空間中‘翻譯’出來,這是我的首要考慮?!保ㄘ敻恢形木W(wǎng))
編譯:楊二一
One of the least noticed features in Apple's jam-packed event on April 20 was the addition of a dedicated key on all new keyboards that opens the emoji selector. Right now, to get the emoji picker on a Mac, you have to remember the key combination Command-Control-Space bar. On Windows, it's the Windows key plus the semicolon. I can never seem to plant either of those combos in my brain–I have to Google them every time (like just now)–so the new dedicated key seems like a huge win.
Technically, it's up to computing platform owners, like Apple for the Mac and iPhone, Google for Android, and Microsoft for Windows to create and update the emojis that appear on our devices. But they all use the standard set of emojis from the Unicode Consortium, the group that has long established how keyboard setups in different languages interface with computers. As we noted last month, Google designer Jennifer Daniel now heads the consortium's emoji subcommittee that revises the emoji collection annually. I spoke to her this week about the challenges of picking which new little cartoons make it onto billions of keyboards and which don't.
Before joining Google five years ago, Daniel was a designer in the world of journalism as a graphics editor at the New York Times and graphics director of Bloomberg Businessweek. She always loved emojis and first went public with her ideas in an essay in the Times in 2014 called "The Emojis We Really Need," which she later followed up with an art gallery showing of "Emojis I wish existed."
"The best part is how accessible it is," she explained to me in a video call. "It isn't high art. I'm not here with a monocle on to talk to you about fine art. It really was just about exploring what could be done."
Along with the op-ed, Daniel started taking the emoji world more seriously and filing formal applications with Unicode to propose new emojis. A concept to represent existentialism, a person seeing their reflection in a mirror, didn't make it. But the smiling face with a tear, or a tear of joy, is now on all our keyboards. After she'd been at Google working on emojis for a few years, she joined the subcommittee in 2018 and when longtime chairman (and Unicode president) Mark Davis stepped aside a little over a year ago, she got the top post.
Anyone who fills out the proper forms can submit an emoji proposal. The subcommittee has a variety of criteria it uses to pick 30 or so new additions per year. "We are focusing primarily on communicative aspects of emoji, since they primarily are used in messaging spaces," Daniel says. New emoji also should reflect "globally relevant concepts," which can be something meaningful to everyone in the world or just a specific group.
The future, though, may be about letting people break out of the confines of the consortium's emoji list. While there's a standard way to include an image on a web page with HTML code, there's no standard way to include a small image in every messaging app and word processor document. Some apps like Slack and Discord already allow groups to add their own small icons to use as emojis.
"Unicode can't do everything so we're trying to find new encoding paths," she says. "Language is developed by just human minds interacting with each other. It's unstoppable. And finding a way for that to be translated in digital spaces is just top of mind."