Online chat

Online chat may refer to any kind of communication over the

Internet that offers a real-time transmission of text messages from
sender to receiver. Chat messages are generally short in order to
enable other participants to respond quickly. Thereby, a feeling
similar to a spoken conversation is created, which distinguishes
chatting from other text-based online communication forms such as
Internet forums and email. Online chat may address point-to-point
communications as well as multicast communications from one
sender to many receivers and voice and video chat, or may be a
feature of a web conferencing service.

Online chat in a less stringent definition may be primarily any direct

text-based or video-based (webcams), one-on-one chat or one-to-
many group chat (formally also known as synchronous
conferencing), using tools such as instant messengers, Internet Relay
Chat (IRC), talkers and possibly MUDs. The expression online chat
comes from the word chat which means "informal conversation". In this typical online chat program, the window to
Online chat includes web-based applications that allow the left shows a list of contacts, and the window to
the right shows a conversation between the user
communication – often directly addressed, but anonymous between
and one of those contacts
users in a multi-user environment. Web conferencing is a more
specific online service, that is often sold as a service, hosted on a
web server controlled by the vendor.

Contents
History
Chatiquette
Social criticism
Software and protocols
See also
References

History
The first online chat system was called Talkomatic, created by Doug Brown and David R. Woolley in 1973 on the PLATO System at
the University of Illinois. It offered several channels, each of which could accommodate up to five people, with messages appearing
on all users' screens character-by-character as they were typed. Talkomatic was very popular among PLATO users into the mid-
1980s. In 2014, Brown and Woolley released a web-based version of Talkomatic.

The first online system to use the actual command "chat" was created for The Source in 1979 by Tom Walker and Fritz Thane of
Dialcom, Inc.

The first transatlantic Internet chat took place betweenOulu, Finland and Corvallis, Oregon in February 1989. [1]
The first dedicated online chat service that was widely available to the public was the CompuServe CB Simulator in 1980,[2][3]
created by CompuServe executive Alexander "Sandy" Trevor in Columbus, Ohio. Ancestors include network chat software such as
UNIX "talk" used in the 1970s.

Chatiquette
The term chatiquette (chat etiquette) is a variation of netiquette (Internet etiquette) and describes basic rules of online
communication.[4][5][6] 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.[7][8]

Chatrooms can produce a strong sense ofonline identity leading to impression of subculture.[9]

Chats are valuable sources of various types of information, the automatic processing of which is the object of chat/text mining
technologies.[10]

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.[11][12][13]

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.[14] With chatrooms replacing many face-to-face conversations, it is necessary
to be able to have quick conversation as if the person were present, so many people 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[15] of new words created or slang words, many
of them documented on the websiteUrban 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
[16]
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
[14]
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."[14] In this article he
is saying that young people are merely adapting to what they were given.

Software and protocols

The following are common chat programs and protocols:

AOL Instant Messenger(AIM) QQ

Apple Messages SILC
Camfrog Slack
Campfire Skype
Gadu-Gadu Talk
Google Talk Talkerymail also
I2P-Messenger (anonymous, end-to-end encrypted im TeamSpeak (TS)
for the I2P network) The Palace (encrypted, decentralized)
Internet Citizen's Band(ICB) WebChat Broadcasting System(WBS)
ICQ (OSCAR) WeChat
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) WhatsApp
MUD Windows Live Messenger
Paltalk XMPP
RetroShare (encrypted, decentralized) Yahoo! Messenger No longer available
Chat programs supporting multiple protocols:

Adium Pidgin
Google+ Hangouts Quiet Internet Pager
Kopete Trillian
IBM Sametime Windows Live Messenger
Miranda IM
Web sites with browser-based chat services (alsosee web chat):

Chat-Avenue Meebo No longer available

Chat Television No longer available Mibbit No longer available
Convore No longer available Omegle
Cryptocat Talkomatic
eBuddy Tokbox No longer available
Facebook Tinychat
FilmOn Trillian
Gmail Userplane No Longer Available
Google+ Woo Media No longer available
Hall.com Zumbl No longer available
MeBeam

See also
Chat room
Collaborative software
Instant messaging
Internet forum
List of virtual communities with more than 100 million active users
Online dating service
Real-time text
Videotelephony
Voice chat

References
1. http://securitydigest.org/tcp-ip/archive/1989/02
2. "CompuServe Innovator Resigns After 25 Y
ears", The Columbus Dispatch, 11 May 1996, p. 2F.
3. Mike Pramik, "Wired and Inspired",The Columbus Dispatch, (Business page), 12 November 2000.
 4. "IRC Chatiquette – Chat Etiquette"(http://www.livinginternet.com/r/ru_chatq.htm). Livinginternet.com. 28 November
1995. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
5. "BBC - WebWise - How do I use instant messaging (IM)?" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/about-instant-mess
aging). Uits.uark.edu. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
6. Using the Internet for Active Teaching and Learning, Steven C. Mills(http://wps.prenhall.com/chet_mills_internet_1/3
9/10079/2580371.cw/content/index.html)Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20081019190313/http://wps.prenhal
l.com/chet_mills_internet_1/39/10079/2580371.cw/content/index.html)19 October 2008 at theWayback Machine.
ISBN 0-13-110546-9
7. "Electronic Discourse - On Speech and Writing on the Internet - 3. Internet Relay Chat Discourse"(http://epubl.luth.s
e/1402-1552/1998/02/HTML/3.html). Epubl.luth.se. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
8. CNET reviews - comparative reviews - chat clients - chatiquette(https://web.archive.org/web/19961221112318/htt
p://www.cnet.com/Content/Reviews/Compare/Chat/ss07.html) The Internet Archive
9. Regina Lynn (4 May 2007). "Virtual Rape Is Traumatic, but Is It a Crime?"(https://web.archive.org/web/20141220072
457/http://archive.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/sexdrive/2007/05/sexdrive_0504) . Wired. Archived from
the original (http://archive.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/sexdrive/2007/05/sexdrive_0504)on 20 December
2014.
10. "Texor" (https://web.archive.org/web/20141101231438/http://yatsko.zohosites.com/texor-a-chat-mining-program.htm
l). Yatsko's Computational Linguistics Laboratory. Archived from the original (http://yatsko.zohosites.com/texor-a-chat
-mining-program.html) on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
11. Zimmer, Ben. Language Log: Shattering the illusions of texting(http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=609)
,
University of Pennsylvania, 18 September 2008.
12. Liberman, Mark. Language Log: Texting and language skills(http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4099)
,
University of Pennsylvania, 2 August 2012.
13. Zwicky, Arnold. Language Log: The decline of writing in Dingburg(http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=613)
,
www.aarichats.comUniversity of Pennsylvania. 19 September 2008.
14. Merchant, Guy . "Teenagers in cyberspace: an investigation of language use and language change in internet
chatrooms." Journal of Research in Reading. 2001, Vol. 24, Iss. 3, ISSN 0141-0423.
15. Topping, Alexandra (10 June 2009)." 'Web 2.0' declared millionth word in English language" (https://www.theguardia
n.com/books/2009/jun/10/english-million-word-milestone). The Guardian.
16. Birkerts, S. "Sense and semblence: The implications of virtuality
." In B. Cox (Ed.), Literacy is not enough.
Manchester University Press. 1998

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