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                     INDECISIVE EMOTICONS FOR ICHAT

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Please remember both chatters must follow the instructions below to use indecisive emoticons for iChat. What is an emoticon?

1) Open Finder > Applications

2) Ctrl + right click on iChat > Show Package Contents > Contents > Plugins > Standard.smileypack > Contents > Resources

3) Select all the iChat emoticon .tif files > Drag to another folder to save for later*

4) In downloaded Indecisive folder > Select all .tif emoticon files and drag them into the Resources folder

5) Restart iChat if already open > Start chatting!


*To revert back to the default iChat emoticon set, replace the Indecisive Emoticons with the original iChat files you saved.


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IT IS AN EMOTIONAL SHORTHAND that operates to denote the nonverbal tonality of a conversation that would otherwise be lost. Their presence can turn the invisible writer’s sentence into a sarcastic remark or a genuine comment and become virtual stand-ins for the clenching of a fist, blushing of a cheek, furrowing of the brow and the like. And although they can't transmit fully, the effect of real life body language, it is still exceedingly interesting there is this desire to turn a gesture of the speaker from invisible to visible. 

It is in this light, that the emoticon rises to the interesting task of attempting to transmit the nuances of human gestures not by rendering accurate visual representation, but rather by becoming an open symbol that possesses a digital gaze. A gaze that is portable, abbreviated and standardized.


excerpt from an essay on the emoticon I wrote in February 2011


AL * 2011