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mstem edited this page Jan 10, 2018 · 2 revisions

Resources required

  • PhoneGap
  • Dev time
  • Hosting web app
  • licensed Emoji One set
  • Outreach time

Original BIFFUD Project Application

As described in section 11.11.B of the BIFFUD Corporate Bylaws I hereby invoke my rights as a sentient being who has not uploaded their mind to the cloud for consideration of this project application by the BIFFUD Hive Mind. With this application I submit my interest in becoming a Member of BIFFUD and having this project supported and adored by all who can 🤔.

Project Information

Project Name: The Emoji Compass Project Haiku: You ask the compass, "How am I going to die?" It answers, "🦉🍞." Project Analogy: It's like an emoji Magic 8 ball for people who read the His Dark Materials trilogy

Project Description

The Dark Materials trilogy is centered around a "Golden Compass". Its official name is alethiometer, or "truth measure". The device is like a compass, in that it's the size of a pocketwatch and has needles that spin toward answers. Its face shows 36 symbols, each of which can represent 12+ ideas, concepts, or literal meanings.

To use the compass, the user sets the three needles to three symbols that frame the question she is posing, and then the alethiometer spins the needles to three symbols to provide a cryptic answer. This answer is truth, but must be carefully interpreted.

I would like to create a mobile app that replaces the 36 alethiometer symbols with emoji. The answers the app returns will be shrouded in the symbology of the novels.

There's an emoji equivalent for each symbol on the compass. (Twitter's open sourced emoji collection may do it, but is two years out of date, so we may need to purchase the license to use Emoji One's updated collection).

Bylaw Questions

How is this project a bad idea?

This project takes a beloved fantasy novel's central artifact and makes light of it with inane emojis.

If this project were a D&D Character, what alignment would it be and why?

Rebel (chaotic good), because it "follows [its] own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society." Source http://easydamus.com/alignment.html.

Alignment: [x] Chaotic Good [] Neutral Good [] Chaotic Neutral

Where are the lulz?

Fans of the Dark Materials books may actually enjoy having a Golden Compass app to play with, and the emoji symbols correctly set expectations.

How does this project make people thinking face emoji?

When the user asks the Emoji Compass a serious question, they will be provided a reply with a (unbeknownst to them) random array of emojis. The wide range of potential symbolistic interpretations will allow the user to infer meaning where there was none to begin with, not unlike reading into lyrics to a song, or the punchline of a New Yorker cartoon.

[Don't thinking face emoji too hard]

Is this realistic to implement via BIFFUD?

Yes. This is a very simple app (mobile web app with PhoneGap wrappers). It will let us test the waters on building and launching something quickly. We can license the emoji we need for it.