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Joe Schurman

Are Instant Messaging Emoticons the New Age's Hieroglyphics?

By jschurman on Sun, 04/19/09 - 11:41pm.

I spent a lot of time off the grid this past weekend enjoying my brother's wedding. These days away tend to open up new ideas and fun rhetoric amongst friends and something that came up as part of a conversation I had with one of my brother's best friends and mentor, Dr. David Macey, PhD of the University of Central Oklahoma, had to do with the affect that text messaging has had on the English language, which eventually led to how emoticons or images are now used, similar to short-hand via text messaging, to express feelings through responses via Instant Messaging (IM).

So pondering further by looking at images of Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphics via Google, have we as a society, now repeated history by leveraging images versus text to converse? Thinking even further, if we have and now that short-hand has become the new writing medium, are we on the precipice of the creation of a new shift in creating a new language and re-engineering literature for a new generation? Will novels of the future be coded? Just something to ponder. Interested in seeing some responses on this.

About Joe Schurman: Microsoft Voice and UC
Joe has provided consulting and research within the Information Technology industry for the past 17 years and is considered to be one of the worlds top experts on Unified Communications technologies. Joe has been quoted, interviewed, and published in international press including Wall Street Journal, CNBC, MSN Money, and through international webcasts, industry events, and hundreds of speaking engagements in every continent. Joe has published three books, including the technology best seller, “Microsoft Voice and Unified Communications”, published by Pearson / Addison Wesley in 2009 with a foreword by Gurdeep Singh Pall, Vice President of Microsoft Corporation and XD Huang, Microsoft Research Director of the Communications Innovation Center. Joe is a Microsoft TechNet Gold Presenter Award winner and is a leader in the Microsoft technical community as well as a 6-time Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional). Joe has been recently featured in several TV and Radio Media interviews including NBC's "World According to Garf” NBC Radio Broadcast, The Business Maker's Show on NBC with Russ Capper, and The Today in America Show with host Terry Bradshaw on CNN, Discovery Channel, and Fox News. Joe began his career at Compaq Computer Corporation and became the youngest Managing Consultant at Accenture in 2001 after which time, Joe became a private consultant to Microsoft for 8 years with 2 1/2 years spent with Microsoft Research. Joe resides in Houston, Texas with his wife and three children and is a member of the Holland Society and the National Sons of the American Revolution.
 

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