QID Emoji and their applications

Thu May 23 11:51:32 CDT 2019

There has been a development in that the following document has been 
published yesterday.

https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2019/19203-wd-uts51-17-draft.pdf

I refer to Annex C.2 of that document.

In that section the use of U+1F194 SQUARED ID is suggested as the base 
character for QID emoji.

I have thought of a mnemonic to help remember the code number - namely 1 
F then the number of letters in the phrase "a memorable code".

I have now produced a maquette font that uses that base character rather 
than the Private Use Area character that I used before.

Here is the substitution sequence that is within the new font.

sub u1F194 uE0051 uE0032 uE0031 uE0038 uE0035 uE0034 uE0033 uE007F -> 
glyph218543;

In order to try the experiment one needs to install the font.

So here is the sequence that one needs to enter in order to cause the 
display of the (stylized) glyph that represents the white crested tiger 
heron in these experiments.

u1F194 uE0051 uE0032 uE0031 uE0038 uE0035 uE0034 uE0033 uE007F

That is, the SQUARED ID character then tag characters 2 1 8 5 4 3 then 
the CANCEL TAG character.

Please note that for the glyph substitution to work the OpenType liga 
feature needs to be on in whichever OpenType-aware application that you 
use for the experiment .

The font fontQ218543maquette3 in the file fontQ218543maquette3.otf and 
is included in each of the following threads.

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/82885-can-you-find-the-white-crested-tiger-heron/

https://forum.high-logic.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7941

You are welcome to download, install and use the font.

----

I noticed in the document published yesterday the following, on page 45 
of the PDF document.

quote

A subset of QIDs are associated with entities that would be valid for 
emoji. For example, risk
management (Q189447) and this (Q3109046) would not be valid. Of those 
that are valid,
Wikidata may not have associated images for the referenced entity, and 
such images would
rarely — if ever — be appropriate for use as images for emoji.

end quote

I have it in mind to suggest that there should not be that restriction 
and that all QID items should be valid for emoji and thus for 
interchange and interoperability in a plain text environment. Some may 
never be used yet I am thinking that to state that that some "would not 
be valid" would be a decision that could restrict progress and the 
implementation and beneficial application of new ideas in the future.

As it happens when we were discussing the possibility of abstract emoji 
some time ago in this mailing list I produced glyphs for "this" and for 
"that" as a gentleman had indirectly suggested the possibility. They are 
about 60% of the way down the following web page.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/abstract_emoji.htm

I accept that "this" as in "this and that" is not the same as "this" as 
used in some computer languages, yet maybe, just maybe, a glyph for 
"this" used in that context could be like my design for a glyph for 
"this" with a large round  dot, say in green, added in the lower right 
corner, so as to indicate a dot as used in listing the name of an object 
in some computer programming languages.

Restricting which QID items could be emoji also restricts the 
possibility of using the QID page data for text to speech. For example, 
risk management (Q189447) already has text in three languages. The 
encoding abstract items as QID items and thus as QID emoji could help 
communication through the language barrier, including possibly very 
helpfully in emergency situations.

I am thinking about a glyph for risk management.

I am wondering of a red jagged shape enclosed within a yellow rounded 
shape might work.

Shapes something like those in the following article.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouba/kiki_effect

William Overington

Thursday 23 May 2019

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