Emerging Media Interlude (aka Episode 8) : 21 day COVID-19 Twitter Emoji Study (GIF)

While I was away, I used an AI-powered SMS research tool (ForSight / Crimson Hexagon) to do a 21-day study around Covid-19 using 10k pieces of Twitter data to bootstrap a micro visual communication study of the day-to-day emoji most frequently used. It isn't perfect, I'll admit. But it certainly is interesting. I compiled 21 files, opened them all in a single Preview window, and exported it to a PDF file. From there I used an online file converter Convertio uploaded the PDF to create a GIF. I originally exported this set of files as transparent, so when I converted it to the GIF, it stacked the layers, rather than replacing them, as would be the effect if the background were white, it wouldn't stack the 21 layers. The effect is somewhat maximalist, alarming, and humorous, in a OMG FML WTF tragedy sort of way. Regardless, here it is in its primal form.

Update: I'm going to do a final project around this technique as a study for my final paper/project - looking at March of 2020, Corona Virus, and the use of emoji to display world sentiment around our present moment via the sentiment relayed via these visual communication tools.