Emoticons literacy

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1. Introduction

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Purpose

The purpose of this study is to find the influence of the age and computer use pattern on Emoticons literacy.

Research questions

The research question of this study is:

1. What are the differences in understanding and using Emoticons between different age groups?

2. What are the differences in understanding and using Emoticons between groups with different pattern of using computer/internet?

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2. Literature review

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Definition and use of emoticons on Internet.
Emoticons are widely used in many different areas of Internet. Therefore, it is important to search the definition of emoticons in Internet environment, and study how current users understand emoticons. Also, it is important to briefly search how many emoticons are being used between internet users.

Acronyms, Emoticons & Smilies page. (2002). http://www.muller-godschalk.com/emoticon.html
This webpage provides a large number of emoticons used in WWW environment. The various emoticons listed in this webpage shows that emoticons are continuously being developed and expanding. But the various emoticons also indicate that emoticons do not have generally accepted meaning between different individuals and groups, except for some widely used emoticons.

Cknow Definitions/Acronyms/Abbreviations. (2001). http://www.cknow.com/ckinfo/emoticons.htm
This webpage gives a brief description and history of emoticons, and explains the background culture that influenced the development of new emoticons. This webpage is more focusing on the list of emoticons, providing a large numbers of emoticons in alphabetical order. But like many of the similar sites that provide emoticons list, it is difficult to show what level of emoticons are generally accepted and understood.

Tamosaitis, N. (1994). Net talk. Emeryville, CA: Ziff-Davis press  

Various Emoticons and small comments are included in this book. I found out that this book explained certain Emoticons having one meaning and other websites explained it as having different meaning. For example, 8:-) is explained as ¡°little girl¡±, but in different websites (http://netforbeginners.about.com/) explained it as ¡°men with a sunglass¡±. This discrepancy is interesting point, because it could indicate that there are no fixed meaning for Emoticons.

Development of emoticons.
Finding the specific developer of certain sign that is widely used in current world could be difficult. But for emoticons, there is a certain inventor -Scott Fahlman. It will be important to track the development of the first emoticons, and how the inventor views the spread of emoticons in the world.

Fahlman, E, S. Smiley Lore :-). http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~sef/sefSmiley.htm
Scott Fahlman is known as the inventor of the first emoticons. In his webpage, he explains the reason he developed the first emotions :-) and how it spread out to other networks. He explains that the first emoticons were developed to help people better communicate in bulletin boards. This webpage also includes the first message that includes emoticons. It is interesting to see the first developer of certain culture explain about it himself, and his negative opinion on Microsoft and AOL using emoticons with actual graphic.

The influence of emoticons.
Emoticons are widely used sign in current society. The introduction of such sign influenced individuals in many ways. But there are not many empirical studies about the influence of emoticons on communication and interaction. Two researches about emoticons were used in this part to find the influence of emoticons.

Rivera, K., Cooke, J. N., & Bauhs, A. J. (1996). The effects of emotional icons on remote communication. Proceedings of the CHI '96 conference companion on Human factors in computing systems : Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
The authors of this paper researched the influence of using emoticons in Computer Mediated Communication (CMC). The research subjects were divided into two different groups, one group that could use emoticons and one group without emoticons. Each group communicated with group members for certain task. The result showed that using emoticons could help to communicate better between group members, and members feel more comfortable in communicating. This research is interesting because it conducted an empirical study on emoticons, and shows the actual difference between using and not using emotions. But the research only included 6 basic emoticons. So if the research includs more difficult emoticons, the result could be different.

Walther, B. J., & D'ddario, P. K. (2001). The impacts of emoticons on message interpretation in computer-mediated communication. Social Science Computer Review, 19, (3), 324-347.
This article studies the influence of emoticons on message interpretations. This study reflects the influence of the literatures on communication ?nonverbal communication - and describes that emoticons are used in computer-mediated communication to supplement the nonverbal cues. The result of this study indicates that emoticons?influence is generally outweighed by verbal content. The author explains that “their (emoticons? actual communicative effects are minimal in the context of the language cues they may accompany?(p.344). This study has important meaning since the result indicates that even widely used emoticons still do not have the influence to shift the main context of verbal message.

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3. Methodology

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A survey and a follow-up interview were conducted to find the differences in Emoticons literacy. 

Survey

A survey was used to assess participant¡¯s understanding of different Emoticons. The survey was based on the online quiz for Emoticons.

(http://netforbeginners.about.com/library/quizzes/emoticons/bl-emoticons-intro.htm).

I made partial change to the original online quiz. I added three questions to cover more diverse categories of Emotions, and also included questions about the participant¡¯s age and the pattern of using computer.

The survey asks question based on three categories: 1) basic level Emoticons – widely used Emoticons, 2) Emoticons related to culture – Emoticons that needs cultural background to understand it, 3) advanced level Emoticons – more sophisticated Emoticons. These three categories are partly based on the criteria of the website that provides the online quiz for Emoticons (http://netforbeginners.about.com/), and also partly based on my personal perspective of Emoticons.

Participants were recruited from three sources at a state university in the Midwestern United States. Some participants (n=12) participated in class. Some participants were recruited from a religious group of university students (n=15), and some participants were recruited from a computer lab in the university (n=18).

Surveys were distributed in face-to-face situation, and were collected by the researcher.

Interview

A follow-up interview was conducted for the following reasons: 1) The survey data only covers small part of Emoticons that are currently being used. 2) The survey data does not reflect the people¡¯s perception about Emoticons, 3) The interview does not provide extensive perspectives and in-depth view about Emoticons. 

Interview questions were developed after reviewing the survey data. Two students were recruited for the interview. Participant A is a graduate student who studied in university for 5 years. Participant A is 28 years old. Participant A works as a computer lab consultant, and deals with various computer & Internet tasks. Participant A often uses email and Instant Messanger  programs (MSN messenger) with friends and colleagues.

Participant B is an undergraduate student who studied at the university for 6 months. Participant B is 22 years old. Participant B uses computer and Internet in daily base, and communicates with friends using email and Instant Messanger programs (MSN messenger).

Both participants use computer and internet in daily base, and use internet as a tool of communication.  

Interview questions were sent to the participants before the interview. One interview was conducted in one-15minute-session on Nov 2002, was video taped and transcribed. The other interview was conducted in one-30minute-session with an Instant Messanger program on December 2002.

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4. Findings

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Survey findings

The survey question intended to compare two factors, the age and the pattern of using computer. But the second factor – the pattern of using computer was dropped because the question failed to find significant difference in the survey data (90% of the participants answered they use computer in daily base. This result is partly because all the participants were students -undergraduate, graduate, which use computer regularly). Therefore the survey was analyzed only using the age factor.

The survey question was categorized into three groups: 1) Basic level Emoticons, 2) Culture related Emoticons, and 3) Advanced Emoticons. The rate of correct answers within each group was summarized, and the means between two age groups were compared.

The rate of giving correct answers of two age groups (20s, 30s) was compared using T-test. I used SPSS 10 statistics package to analyze the survey data.

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The survey data shows that there is significant difference between two age groups (20s, 30s) in 1) Basic Emoticons and 2) Culture related Emoticons. But the data shows no significant difference 3) Advanced Emoticons.

The age group of 20 gave more correct answers than the age group of 30 when answering questions about 1) Basic Emoticons. The age group of 20 answered more correctly than the age group of 30 when answering questions about 2) Culture related Emoticons. But both the age group of 20 and 30 showed similar result when answering questions about 3) Advanced-more sophisticated Emoticons.

Interview findings

A semi-structured interview was conducted with two participants. The interview focused on the following questions.  

1. Can you please explain about emoticons? How often do you use it?  

Usually I just use smiley faces, when I want to say something like¡¦ something good, then I just put a smiley face¡¦ or a joke¡¦ I use it when I¡¯m in a kind of good mood¡¦ It is more like a personal talking¡¦ it helps¡¦ plain mail is like a formal letter ¡¦email with it (smiley) makes it more fun¡¦ (Participant A)

It is some kind of internet language¡¦used for communication. Some people think it has negative influence¡¦ but it is spreading between people rapidly. It is more like expressing your feeling¡¦ I would call it something like ¡°expression language¡± (participant B)

Both participants explained that Emoticons are used for expressing your feeling in Internet. Participant B also explained Emoticons as Internet language. This indicates that both participants share similar perspective about Emoticons, but participant B is more aware of the language characteristics of Emoticons.  

2. What are the most common emoticons you use? What are the most difficult emoticons you use? 

Myself, I just use that face, I don¡¯t use a lot of them¡¦ but email from my friends¡¦ they use a lot¡¦ so I just see them a lot¡¦ I don¡¯t know if I can type it myself, but I can read it¡¦I can¡¯t recreate it myself¡¦(participant A)

I don¡¯t use it a lot, but usually use ^^;, and ¤Ñ,.¤Ñ. I don¡¯t use difficult ones¡¦ just the basic ones¡¦(participant B)

Both participants recognized themselves as a ¡°not using Emoticons frequently¡± and ¡°knowing only the basic Emoticons¡±. This indicates that both participants think there are certain groups of people who use more diverse and complex Emoticons, and they are not part of it. But certain Emoticons, which they think is ¡°basic¡± could be ¡°complex¡± to different group of people. For example, ¡°¤Ñ,.¤Ñ¡±, which is a basic Emoticon for participant B, could be difficult to understand for participant A.

3. Do you sometimes experience difficulty in understanding some emoticons in everyday life (such as email, chatting, instant message)? 

Yeah, sometimes I just to have turn my head around, but usually I can figure it out¡¦or from the context¡¦sometimes it¡¯s not straight (participant A)

I think most of the people in my age will understand it¡¦.If I see an Emoticon, I can just feel it. But older people might have problem with that¡¦ because they don¡¯t know the specific background culture. If you don¡¯t watch Simpson, it is difficult to understand ******:-). I think we understand it because we share the culture¡¦But I once chat with a girl in the middle school. I could only understand 70% of the words she was using¡¦ I had to decode it with my friends¡¦(participant B) 

Participant A and B explained that they are able to decode most of the Emotiocns even if they don¡¯t know it at first. Participant B explained that this ability to decode Emoticons is because people share similar culture, which is embedded in Emoticons. Participant B also explained that if people do not share the similar culture, they could have difficulty in communicating.  

4. What do you think about peoples¡¯ use of emoticons? 

It adds something to the meaning¡¦ context, so it¡¯s part of language, it makes difference¡¦ kind of expanding language¡¦.I think it¡¯s part of language¡¦different kind of different function¡¦ it¡¯s adding meaning¡¦ (participant A)

I¡¯m not against it (Emoticons), but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s good to overuse it¡¦.

Internet limits our expression¡¦ only in letters¡¦but Emoticons helps us to show our feelings¡¦I think it will grow up, because younger generations are growing up with this Emoticons¡¦ and they will continue to use it when they grow up¡¦ So I think it will expand until some new technology comes out¡¦ some kind of technology that will bring a new type of communication¡¦ But at this point, it is their culture. (participant B)

Participant A thought Emoticons have a role of supporting the main language, and it could be understood as an ¡°expanding language¡±. Participant B thought Emoticons will continue to grow because it is already the part of people¡¯s culture. Both participants thought that Emoticons will coexist with the standard language because of its supportive role.  

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5. Discussion / Conclusion  

The survey result indicates that the age difference influences some parts of Emoticons literacy. Younger age group found more correct meanings of the Emoticons if it was basic Emoticons or Emoticons related to culture. But the age difference didn¡¯t influence Emoticons literacy when participants had to deal with more difficult, sophisticated Emoticons. This result shows that younger students are more frequently exposed and used to certain Emoticons than the older students. The interview explains that Emoticons are part of culture. Different age groups develop their own culture. And this cultural difference brings discrepancies between age groups in understanding Emoticons.

Both age groups experienced similar difficulty in finding a new and sophisticated Emoticon. This similarity indicates that younger group of students face similar difficulty to the older group of students when they have to deal with Emoticons that are not part of their culture. The ability to understand Emoticons is deeply related to culture. The Emoticons literacy should be understood in the context of the cultural difference between the individuals and the Emoticons. ¡¡

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This research focuses on finding the differences of Emoticons literacy between two different age groups. The survey result shows that there are significant differences in certain areas. But these differences come from the cultural background that each age group possesses. The ability to decode new and sophisticated Emoticons did not show significant difference. This result indicates that Emoticons should be understood in the context of Internet language reflecting culture.

This study also reflects how people think about Emoticons and language. Language could be defined as a ¡°system of communication consisting of a set of small parts and a set of rules which decide the ways in which these parts can be combined to produce messages that have meaning (http://dictionary.cambridge.org)¡±. Emoticons share some perspectives of this definition. But the relationship between Emoticons and language needs further research.

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References

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Acronyms, Emoticons & Smilies page. (2002).http://www.muller-godschalk.com/emoticon.html

Cknow Definitions/Acronyms/Abbreviations. (2001). http://www.cknow.com/ckinfo/emoticons.htm

Fahlman, E, S. Smiley Lore :-). http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~sef/sefSmiley.htm

Rivera, K., Cooke, J. N., & Bauhs, A. J. (1996). The effects of emotional icons on remote communication. Proceedings of the CHI '96 conference companion on Human factors in computing systems : Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Tamosaitis, N. (1994). Net talk. Ziff-Davis press: Emeryville, California.

Walther, B. J., & D'ddario, P. K. (2001). The impacts of emoticons on message interpretation in computer-mediated communication. Social Science Computer Review, 19, (3), 324-347.