"How to" Guideline series is coordinated by Helen Mongan-Rallis of the Education Department at the University of Minnesota Duluth. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions to improve these guidelines please e-mail hrallis@d.umn.edu.
by Helen Mongan-Rallis, last updated April 29, 2006
A drawback of online discussion is the difficulty in communicating non-verbally. Using emoticons -- or symbols that indicate emotions and facial expressions -- can help. These can be in the form of simple clip-art type icons, such as those used in the Web Crossing discussion forum used at UMD (see selection of these emoticons and other symbols below):
Another options is to use keyboard emoticon shortcuts. Some examples are:
A comprehensive selection of emoticons can be found at the Computer User High Tech Dictionary.