Online chat

Types

According to the type of media used, synchronous conferencing can be divided into

• audio conferencing: only audio is used
• video conferencing: Both audio (voice) and video and pictures are used.

According to the number of access points used, synchronous conferencing can be divided into

• point-to-point: Only two computers are connected end to end.
• multi-point: Two or more computers are connected.

Methods

Some of the methods used in synchronous conferencing are:

• Chat (text only): Multiple participants can be logged into the conference and can interactively share resources and ideas. There is also an option to save the chat and archive it for later review.
• Voice (telephone or voice-over IP): This is a conference call between the instructor and the participating students where they can speak through a built-in microphone or a headset.
• Video conferencing: This may or may not require the participants to have their webcams running. Usually, a video conference involves a live feed from a classroom or elsewhere or content.
• Web conferencing: This includes Webinar (Web-based seminar) as well. Unlike in video conferencing, participants of web conferencing can access a wider variety of media elements. Web conferences are comparatively more interactive and usually incorporate chat sessions as well.
• Virtual worlds: In this setup, students can meet in the virtual world and speak with each other through headsets and VoIP. This can make learning more productive and engaging when the students can navigate the worlds and operate in their avatar.

Chat room

The terms chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), are primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus span technology ranging from real-time online chat and online interaction with strangers (e.g., online forums) to fully immersive graphical social environments. The primary use of a chat room is to share information via text with a group of other users.

Generally speaking, the ability to converse with multiple people in the same conversation differentiates chat rooms from instant messaging programs, which are more typically designed for one-to-one communication. The users in a particular chat room are generally connected via a shared internet or other similar connection, and chat rooms exist catering for a wide range of subjects. New technology has enabled the use of file sharing and webcams.

Graphical multi-user environments

Visual chat rooms add graphics to the chat experience, in either 2D or 3D (employing virtual reality technology). These are characterized by using a graphic representation of the user, an avatar virtual elements such as games (in particular massively multiplayer online games) and educational material most often developed by individual site owners, who in general are simply more advanced users of the systems. The most popular environments, such as The Palace, also allow users to create/build their own spaces. Some of the most popular 3D chat experiences are IMVU and Second Life (though they extend far beyond just chat). Many such implementations generate profit by selling virtual goods to users at a high margin.

Some online chat rooms also incorporate audio and video communications, so that users may actually see and hear each other.

Games are also often played in chat rooms. These are typically implemented by an external process such as an IRC bot joining the room to conduct the game. Trivia question and answer games are most prevalent. A historic example is Hunt the Wumpus. Chatroom-based implementations of the party game Mafia also exist. A similar, but more complex style of text-based gaming are MUDs, in which players interact within a textual, interactive fiction–like environment.

Conferencing

Both synchronous and asynchronous conferencing are online conferencing where the participants can interact while being physically located at different places in the world. Asynchronous conferencing allows the students to access the learning material at their convenience while synchronous conferencing requires that all participants including the instructor and the students be online at the time of the conference.

While synchronous conferencing enables real-time interaction of the participants, asynchronous conferencing allows participants to post messages and others can respond to them at any convenient time. Sometimes a combination of both synchronous and asynchronous conferencing is used. Both methods give a permanent record of the conference.

In education

Synchronous conferencing in education helps in the delivery of content through digital media. Since this is real-time teaching, it also brings the benefits of face-to-face teaching in distance learning. Multiple higher education institutions offer well-designed quality e-learning opportunities. Some of the advantages of synchronous conferencing in education are:

• Helps the students to connect with not only their teachers and peers but also with recognized experts in the field regardless of the geographical distance and different time zones.
• Provides opportunities for both the teachers and the students to expand their knowledge outside the classroom.
• Helps students who are home-bound or have limited mobility to connect with their classrooms and participate in learning.
• Helps the faculty to conduct classes when they are not able to come to classes due to an emergency.
• Supports real-time collaboration, interaction, and immediate feedback
• Encourages students to learn together and in turn, develop cultural understanding
• Personalized learning experience for the students
• Real-time discussion opportunities for students promoting student engagement
• Active interaction can lead to an associated community of like-minded students
• Saves travel expenses and time

Implementation

There are four critical factors identified for implementing synchronous conferencing for effective instruction to the students

• Video and audio quality which depends on technical factors like higher bandwidth and processing capabilities of the system.
• Training time depends on the familiarity and proficiency of the instructors and the students with the technology.
• Teaching strategies depend on the adaptability of the instructors to the new methods, preparing appropriate and effective training materials, and motivating students.
• Direct meeting of the instructor and the students.

The tools for implementing synchronous conferencing depend on the type of educational problem addressed. This is in turn decides the method of synchronous conferencing to be used and the tool to be used in the learning context. The tool selected addresses the problem of improving the learning outcomes which cannot be solved with an asynchronous environment. There are a number of tools and platforms available for synchronous conferencing.

• Smartphone applications
• Web conferencing tools
• Video conferencing tools
• Video and hangout platforms
• Shared whiteboards

The selection of tools and platforms also depends on the group size which depends on the activity for the course design.

Limitations

Some limitations for synchronous conferencing in learning are:

• Disjointed discussions, not connected in time
• Lack of effective moderation and/or clear guidelines for learners
• Difficulty in collaborating on online projects
• Lack of proper communication with the instructor and students.
• Technical issues may arise if not analysed and planned in advance
• Lack of familiarity with the tools
• Limited time to complete the learning activity and to incorporate interactions with the learners

Chatiquette

The term chatiquette (chat etiquette) is a variation of netiquette (Internet etiquette) and describes basic rules of online communication. These conventions or guidelines have been created to avoid misunderstandings and to simplify the communication between users. Chatiquette varies from community to community and generally describes basic courtesy. As an example, it is considered rude to write only in upper case, because it appears as if the user is shouting. The word "chatiquette" has been used in connection with various chat systems (e.g. Internet Relay Chat) since 1995.

Chatrooms can produce a strong sense of online identity leading to impression of subculture.

Chats are valuable sources of various types of information, the automatic processing of which is the object of chat/text mining technologies.

Social criticism

Criticism of online chatting and text messaging include concern that they replace proper English with shorthand or with an almost completely new hybrid language.

Writing is changing as it takes on some of the functions and features of speech. Internet chat rooms and rapid real-time teleconferencing allow users to interact with whoever happens to coexist in cyberspace. These virtual interactions involve us in 'talking' more freely and more widely than ever before. With chatrooms replacing multiple face-to-face conversations, it is necessary to be able to have quick conversation as if the person were present, so some learn to type as quickly as they would normally speak. Some critics are wary that this casual form of speech is being used so much that it will slowly take over common grammar; however, such a change has yet to be seen.

With the increasing population of online chatrooms there has been a massive growth of new words created or slang words, a number of them documented on the website Urban Dictionary. Sven Birkerts wrote:

"as new electronic modes of communication provoke similar anxieties amongst critics who express concern that young people are at risk, endangered by a rising tide of information over which the traditional controls of print media and the guardians of knowledge have no control on it".

In Guy Merchant's journal article Teenagers in Cyberspace: An Investigation of Language Use and Language Change in Internet Chatrooms; Merchant says

"that teenagers and young people are in the leading the movement of change as they take advantage of the possibilities of digital technology, drastically changing the face of literacy in a variety of media through their uses of mobile phone text messages, e-mails, web-pages and on-line chatrooms. This new literacy develops skills that may well be important to the labor market but are currently viewed with suspicion in the media and by educationalists.

Merchant also says "Younger people tend to be more adaptable than other sectors of society and, in general, quicker to adapt to new technology. To some extent they are the innovators, the forces of change in the new communication landscape." In this article he is saying that young people are merely adapting to what they were given.

Protocols

The following are common chat programs and protocols:

• AIM (No longer available)
• Camfrog
• Campfire
• Discord
• XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol)
• Flock
• Gadu-Gadu
• Google Talk (No longer available)
• I2P-Messenger (anonymous, end-to-end encrypted IM for the I2P network)
• ICQ (OSCAR)
• ICB
• IRC
• Line
• Mattermost
• Apple Messages
• Teams
• Paltalk
• PSYC (Protocol for Synchronous Conferencing)
• RetroShare (encrypted, decentralized)
• Signal (encrypted messaging protocol and software)
• SILC (Secure Internet Live Conferencing protocol)
• SIMPLE (instant messaging protocol) (Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions)
• Skype
• Slack
• Talk
• Talker
• TeamSpeak (TS)
• Telegram
• QQ
• The Palace (encrypted, decentralized)
• WebChat Broadcasting System (WBS)
• WeChat
• WhatsApp
• Windows Live Messenger
• Yahoo! Messenger (No longer available)

Chat programs supporting multiple protocols:

• Adium
• Google+ Hangouts
• IBM Sametime
• Kopete
• Miranda NG
• Pidgin
• Quiet Internet Pager
• Trillian
• Windows Live Messenger

Websites with browser-based chat services:

• Chat-Avenue
• Convore (No longer available)
• Cryptocat
• eBuddy
• Facebook
• FilmOn
• Gmail
• Google+ (No longer available)
• Chat Television (No longer available)
• MeBeam
• Meebo (No longer available)
• Mibbit (No longer available)
• Omegle (no longer available)
• Talkomatic
• Tinychat
• Tokbox (No longer available)
• Trillian
• Userplane (No longer available)
• Woo Media (No longer available)
• Zumbl (No longer available)