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Whenever I see your smiling face...
Posted at 9:23 AM on March 16, 2007 by Jon Gordon
Today on Future Tense (RealAudio - MP3 - iTunes), some breezy Friday material for you:
In 1982, Carnegie Melon University computer science professor Scott E. Fahlman suggested members of his online bulletin board use these symbols to help users understand the true intent and meaning of messages:
:-)
:-(
Over the next 15 years or so, the emoticons moved from bulletin boards to the ARPANET to the Internet.
Fahlman, who does exciting research into artificial intelligence, was gracious enough to let me ask him a few questions about his unusual legacy.
"It's a weird thing to be famous for, but it's kind of nice to be famous for something," Fahlman said on Future Tense.
"It's kind of strange knowing that the first line of my obituary is going to be this thing I tossed off in five minutes 25 years ago, but so be it," he said.
The real smiling face
of Scott Fahlman.
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