Impetus was ‘conversations’ with parents and Netflix hit “Adolescence”
Portuguese computer security expert David Sopas has developed a free tool that translates the hidden meanings of “emojis” that young people exchange with each other in social media messages.
Just as police nationally have been warning about the hidden meanings of these emojis, Sopas’ tool has taken off. It is being shared globally, says Lusa.
Designed to be used by parents of children and teenagers, Sopas – a computer security researcher based in Figueira da Foz – admits to being partly inspired by the series “Adolescence”, a major hit on the Netflix streaming platform, but also by conversations with friends who have teenage children.
The Netflix series “gave me a new vision of the use of emojis, which I had no idea about” and concern for his own daughter, who “isn’t a teenager yet… but she’s getting there”, plus conversations with friends who have older children – and who commented on “some problems they have with “sexting” (exchanging erotic messages via mobile phone or in chats on social networks) and/ or “cyberbullying” (aggressive behaviour via the internet)” – were all Sopas needed.
After careful research, he created what he describes as a simple tool freely available on github.com (anyone interested needs to register first with github).
“To me, an apple is an apple,” he says – but it can also be a way of showing affection. He adds that emojis are now being used to construct sentences. This serves “to get around some situations, which I assume were caused by monitoring software that blocked some topics of conversation”. Bit by bit, a language based on symbols has developed, inscrutable to those who do not know about it.
Sopas only began sharing his computer tool yesterday (dsopas/emoji–translator). It is available in English (for its wider reach and global character).
He says he has already received requests to translate it into Portuguese, particularly from the Tito de Morais’ MiúdosSegurosNa.Net project. However, due to a lack of time, he has left it on open source with a licence that allows anyone to change it.
“I only ask that you give me credit (for authorship). You can translate it, improve the format of the page you want, replicate it in your applications, and monetise it however you want. It’s free, and anyone who wants to can go to GitHub. The source code is there,” he says.
By coincidence, national tabloid Correio da Manhã has headlined its paper today, warning that “Cellphone messages hide sex and drugs” (no mention of rock n’roll), and publicising a PSP police information campaign, for parents, to try and help make them aware of the hidden meanings of emojis being used by their children: how different symbols refer to different drugs; how vegetables can refer to sexual organs and/ or parts of the body, and how to translate certain images that relate to drug trafficking. ND
source material: LUSA
