Scientists have highlighted the potential of emojis to raise awareness and foster appreciation for the diversity of life on Earth in an increasingly digitized world.
In a recent study published in the iScience journal, conservation biologists from the University of Milan highlighted a deficiency in the current emoji library, particularly in its accurate representation of real-world biodiversity.
Using the online catalog, Emojipedia, as a reference, conservation biologists identified and categorized emojis representing more than 100 distinct organisms. However, they reported that the majority were animals but only a small percentage of icons depicted plants. They also observed that fungi and micro-organisms received only one emoji each. They pointed out that the library is also heavily biased toward vertebrates, with arthropods such as insects and crustaceans making up just 16% of all animal emojis while there are more than 10 times as many arthropods as there are vertebrates. Almost 20,000 species of flatworm aren’t represented at all in the emoji library, the scientists argue.
They believe that adding new icons of these creatures could draw attention to lesser known organisms and facilitate online discussions of biodiversity.
Considering the ongoing discussions and importance given to sustainability and climate change action, it appears to be a reasonable proposal to steer digital communication in that direction.
