Slack Single Servings

Behind every working human, there’s a story. Work in Progress is Slack’s new radio show about the meaning and identity we find in work. Each week, join host Dan Misener for stories of personal ambition and debilitating insecurities, great successes and abject failures, the plans we make and the luck that…happens. Hosted by Dan Misener, produced by Slack. Follow along @slackstories or slack.com/podcast

The standard unicode emoji set is by no means perfect, but slowly it’s evolving to be more inclusive and more representative of different people and cultures. Not leaving anything to chance, the government of Finland designed their own set of emoji to stir up national pride and drum up international interest.

Emoji are powerful pictographs that add an emotional layer otherwise missing from text communication. Unfortunately they can be misused, overused, and abused at work causing some ire or just plain confusion in the workplace. Slack’s resident grammarian Anna Pickard and Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch share some handy tips for keeping our emoji use in check. (:greencheckmark:)

Erroneous emoji use can lead to some serious misunderstandings. To keep the peace, a group of researchers from the University of Minnesota are studying the emojis that confound people the most with hopes this data will encourage emoji makers to standardize their designs and descriptions.

A group of high school female sophomores are challenged to design emoji that more accurately reflect themselves and the breadth of their interests. And it’s not all sugar and spice.

By day, Fred Benenson is immersed in research and data. By night, he flexes his creative muscles moonlighting as an author. An emoji author. His repertoire so far includes an emoji translation of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and a guide on how to speak (or write) emoji.

Coming back full circle with a segment from our first episode: We hit the streets and ask completely innocent bystanders to create sound effects for their favorite emoji. The results are nothing short of weird.

Cherie Silvera keeps track of medical supplies in conflict zones for Doctors Without Borders. It’s hard work, and often isolating, but thankfully a no-pressure weekly volleyball game keeps her going.

Waking up this age old debate from its slumber, we talk to a few experts about which caffeinated beverage gives you the better boost.

As long as you have a laptop and a Wi-Fi connection, you can be on the job from anywhere in the world. But what happens when you try hosting a buttoned-up boardroom meeting over video conference with a cow mooing in the background? That’s just one of the many things these overseas workers have to contend with.