Jennifer 8. Lee

“Representation on the Small Screen (vs Big Screen)”

Emoji serve as digital mirrors on the keyboard in a world that is increasingly reliant on electronic communications. But does the public's ability to propose new emoji to Unicode democratize digital representation, empowering individuals to see their identities and cultures reflected in global communication? The demand for diverse emoji underscores a universal desire for representation, where every person feels seen and acknowledged in the digital landscape. The inclusion of emojis featuring various skin tones, hairstyles, gender-neutral options, and cultural symbols (e.g., hijab, mate, sikh, and sari) prompt on-going discussions about how much can Unicode code points accommodate. The pause in additional flag emoji highlights this tension, especially among those who want flags that are not of U.N. recognized countries/territories (NATO, ASEAN, Pan-African). The discussion over the family emoji, and its endless permutations, also highlights the difficulties of the keyboard trying to be exhaustively inclusive.  

This all raises the question of where to draw the line in representation within the emoji library. Is the solution potentially to push the flexibility of ‘emoji’ that are not set by Unicode? 

Biography
Jennifer 8. Lee is an entrepreneur, documentary producer, journalist, seed investor, and emoji activist. She is a member and former vice chair of the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee and a co-founder of Emojination, a grassroots organization whose motto is ‘emoji by the people, for the people.’ Emojination’s work has been collected by the Smithsonian's Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. She has co-led an Angel List seed investment fund for Y Combinator, was a 2018 Fast Company Most Creative Person in Business, and is a Sundance Sloan fellow. She is co-founder and CEO of Plympton, a literary studio that innovates in digital publishing.