Deciding which thumbs up emoji to add to a post may sound trivial, but for many people the dilemma carries with it larger questions about racial identity, awareness, and even politics. Using an emoji demands that people make their race explicit – and with that comes difficult choices. For a person who identifies as Black but is seen by others as white, which emoji should be used? What does it mean when a white person uses the bright yellow emoji versus a more realistic light-skinned color? Listen to hear emoji-users and a social media researcher discuss the racial politics of emojis and then debate: Are emoji skin tones useful?
Story Length: 5:19
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October 21, 2021
4:16
The latest U.S. census did not get an accurate count of Latinos living in the U.S. The survey asked respondents to identify their race, but many Latinos checked “some other race.” That’s because the 2020 census considers “Latino” and “Hispanic” to be ethnicities, not races, leaving Latinos with racial categories that they often felt did not apply to them. The undercount of Latinos has dire implications, since the census data is used to fund programs and enforce anti-discrimination laws. Listen to learn more about census race categories and how the questions could be changed for a more accurate count.
Read MoreSeptember 18, 2020
3:53
Text messaging is changing the way people are using punctuation to express themselves. Some feel that periods at the end of texts can indicate seriousness or even anger. Others believe that writing sentences without periods is an insult to their teachers. Not everyone uses punctuation in the same way, and a period at the end of a text can easily be misinterpreted. Listen to hear a variety of reactions to texts ending with periods then debate: Should texts include punctuation?
Read MoreApril 1, 2020
5:28
The group in charge of emojis is issuing some new designs, and scientists are buzzing. Researchers studying mushrooms, rocks, microbes, and insects enjoy using emojis to represent their work. They are happy to have appropriate images to share on social media, even if the emojis do not represent every scientific detail correctly. Listen to learn which group of animals has the most emojis, which groups are not well represented, and what happened when marine scientists complained about the accuracy of the squid emoji.
Read MoreJanuary 3, 2018
2:11
People communicate in many ways on their cell phones. Twenty-five years ago, cell phones weighed 4 pounds and were only used to make and receive telephone calls. The first text message was transmitted Dec. 3, 1992, changing the way people communicate. Listen to hear more about how phone technology has evolved.
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