Research Assistance Award: Emoji and Emotion Categories of Fiction

Dr. Wan-Chen Lee (PI) at UW-Milwaukee, School of Information Studies has been awarded a $2,791 UWM Research Assistance Fund award from UWM Office of Research.

The project “Emoji and Emotion Categories of Fictions” will explore the application of Emoji to the description and search of fictions. The purpose is to investigate Emoji as metadata to complement existing descriptions, such as mood or emotion taxonomy. In this two-phased study, the project team, led by Dr. Wan-Chen Lee will distribute an online survey to fiction readers to 1) map Emoji to emotional categories for fictions and 2) identify important emotion categories for different facets of fiction moods. Following the survey, the team will 3) solicit fiction readers’ opinions on the presentation of Emoji and emotion categories in information systems through interviews.

This project aims to advance our understanding of Emoji and emotions, enrich fiction descriptions, and explore system designs to support fiction searches by emotion with higher specificity. Investigating Emoji as emotion metadata for fictions unveils an opportunity to provide a more inclusive fiction reading experience to a diverse group of readers, such as those with limited reading levels in English.