A lot of people seem to be putting a lot of time and effort into trying to represent emotions digitally. I have a suspicion they may be, at least partially, wasting their time. Even when systems are released that purport to allow some subset of emotions to be mimicked the end result is frequently that the system is used and interpreted by its human users in a completely different way (for example the Miro system installed in an office to convey the emotional climate).

Like it or not, I believe the future lies in moving away from trying to digitise emotions and instead in providing systems where people can freely experience their own emotions. After all how do you define emotions? There are huge differences and interpretations across cultures.

Successful applications and tools allow us to express and understand our own emotions without needing an internal representation of those emotions. We no longer need to constrain our emotions to the limited definitions provided but instead use technology to participate in society.