Internet Collaboration Overview
Online Chatting
Online chatting is a text-based communication between two or more people over the network. In this, the text message is delivered in real time and people get immediate response.
Talkomatic was the world first online chat system. It was developed by Doug Brown and David R. Woolley in 1973.
Chat Etiquette
Chat etiquette defines rules that are supposed to be followed while online chatting:
Avoid chat slang
Try to spell all words correctly.
Don’t write all the words in capital.
Don’t send other chat users private messages without asking them.
Abide by the rules created by those running the chat.
Use emoticons to let other person know your feelings and expressions.
Web Based Chat Services
Following web sites offers browser based chat services:
| Website | Description |
|---|
| Facebook | It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates at Harvard university. Facebook lets the user to create personal profile, post status & photos, and receive notifications. |
| eBuddy | It is an instant messaging service. It supports multiprotocol instant messaging clients. |
| Convore | It offers real time web based chat system. |
| MeBeam | It offers video based chat between the clients to create video conferencing rooms for up to 16 people. |
| Yahoo! Messenger | It offers PC-PC, PC-phone, Phone-to-PC, file transfer, webcam hosting, text messaging service etc. |
| WhatsApp | It is an instant messaging service application available on smart phones. |
| Gmail | It offers instant chatting, sending and receiving mails, and video calling services. |
Instant Messaging (IM)
Instant messaging is a software utility that allows IM users to communicate by sending text messages, files, and images. Some of the IMs also support voice and video calls.
| Application | Description |
|---|
| Nimbuzz | It is native iPhone app. It supports voice and video chats, file sharing, and group chats with panache. |
| eBuddy | eBuddy IM helps to have all your buddies from multiple IM accounts in one single list. |
| Imo.in | It has capability to link all your IM accounts together. You can log on to all of your IM accounts by just logging into imo.in. |
| MeBeam | It offers video based chat between the clients to create video conferencing rooms for up to 16 people. |
| Yahoo! Messenger | It offers PC-PC, PC-phone, Phone-to-PC, file transfer, webcam hosting, text messaging service etc. |
| GoogleTalk | It is an IM by Google and one of the most widely used. |
| Lync | Lync is an IM developed by Microsoft. It is widely used in corporate sector for internal and external communication as well. |
Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
Internet Relay Chat is a protocol developed by Oikarinen in August 1988. It defines set of rules for communication between client and server by some communication mechanism such as chat rooms, over the internet.
IRC consist of separate networks of IRC servers and machines. These allow IRC clients to connect to IRC. IRC client runs a program client to connect to a server on one of the IRC nets. After connecting to IRC server on IRC network, user can join with one or more channels and converse over there.
IRC Commands
Following commands are used while connected to an IRC server. Almost of the below commands will work with most of IRC clients and servers.
| Command | Description |
|---|
| /away (message) | Leaves a message let the others know why you are gone. |
| /clear | Clears the text from current window. |
| /clearall | Clears all the text from all of the opened windows. |
| /dcc chat (username) | Opens a chat window with the username that you specify. |
| /help | Brings up a list of all the commands or the help window. |
| /ignore (on/of) (username) | Allows you to ignore or not ignore a user. |
| /ignore (+/-) (username) | Alternative to ignore or not ignore a user. |
| /join (#channel) | Joins a particular chat group. |
| /nick (username) | Changes the username |
| /part (channel) | Leaves specified channel. |
| /ping (username) | Pings a specified user and it let you know how far they are in seconds |
| /whowas (username) | Shows information about specified user that was in earlier. |
| /ping (channel) | Pings all users in specified channel. |
Video Conferencing
Video conferencing or Video teleconferencing is a method of communicating by two-way video and audio transmission with help of telecommunication technologies.
Modes of Video Conferencing
Point-to-Point
This mode of conferencing connects two locations only.
Multi-point
This mode of conferencing connects more than two locations through Multi-point Control Unit (MCU).
Video Sharing
Video sharing is an IP Multimedia System (IMS) service that allows user to switch voice calls to unidirectional video streaming session. The video streaming session can be initiated by any of the parties. Moreover, the video source can be the camera or the pre-recorded video clip.
