Today, emoticons - those smiling, frowning, or winking faces comprised of text and punctuation - can be found in everything from emails to text messages. But before their invention 30 years ago, there was no short cut for expressing sentiment in text form. Brooke speaks to computer science professor Scott Fahlman, who came up with the smiling and frowning faces, about how they came to be.
Guests:
Scott FahlmanHosted by:
Brooke Gladstone
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Comments [2]
Or, just possibly, much earlier: http://www.labnol.org/internet/did-abraham-lincoln-invent-emoticon/6682/
Actually, emoticons were in use a decade or so earlier, although they were not called that. See: http://www.platopeople.com/emoticons.html
For a brief overview of the host computer system, see:
http://friendlyorangeglow.com
The system, now called NovaNET, still exists in modern form.
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