The Dean's Guide to Mobile Life: The Oldest Emoticon | Masaru Tomita (Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies)
2007.06.07
Apparently, there is a field of research called "computer archaeology." It involves "excavating" magnetic tapes from decades ago from warehouses around the world to analyze and investigate how "ancient" computers were used.
According to computer archaeologist Jeff Baird, the first emoticon appeared in a computer message 25 years ago. The :-) used by Scott Fahlman on September 19, 1982, at 11:44 a.m. (US Eastern Time) is considered to be the oldest emoticon.
The second oldest emoticon was (-: used by Wilson Harvey two days later, on the 21st at 2:27 p.m. The third oldest, surprisingly, was :-O, used the very next day on the 22nd at 9:26 p.m. by Masaru Tomita (Tomita) to express surprise.
These emoticon "fossils" were all found on backup tapes from the electronic bulletin board of the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). In 1982, I was a graduate student studying abroad at CMU.
This means that I was the first Japanese person to use an emoticon in a computer message. There was talk of featuring this story on the TV show "Trivia no Izumi" (Fountain of Trivia), and I was even interviewed for the program, but it was a bit disappointing when the segment was ultimately scrapped. :-(
While complex and ornate emoticons that make full use of full-width characters continue to emerge, I only use the simple ones made from half-width characters. This is a small point of pride, stemming from my status as a pioneer of computer emoticons with a 25-year history. :-)
(Date Published: 2007/06/07)