Transcript Systemic Semiotic Design Practice:

BUSS 909
Office Automation & Intranets
Lecture 9
Intranet Functionality 1:
Message Boards, Real-Time Chat,
WebChat etc
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Notices (1)
Hand in Assignment 2
I must have the names of people in
teams for Assignment 3, together
with one person nominated as Team
Leader, before close of business
today!
Check my door from tomorrow on
for student assignments to teams
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Notices (2)
we will discuss aspects of
Assignment 3, the assignment text,
required files etc. will be available
from the BUSS909 Intranet in the
next week…
…after you have organised yourself
into groups!!!
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Agenda
in this lecture, we will discuss:
Internet CHAT
Web-CHAT
Message Boards (very briefly)
we will NOT discuss:
Internet Phone- only useful as an
alternatives to traditional phones
email- well known- useful for intranetstrivial to implement
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Functional Capabilities
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Intranets
Functional Capabilities
the functional capabilities of an
intranet- the subject of the next three
lectures- should be determined
according to its potential and actual
utility to the organisation, and
must be continually evaluated in the
context of overall business objectives
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Intranets
Functional Capabilities
there are three major kinds of
functions that intranets can provide
organisations
in order to increasing sophistication
they are:
providing interactive communications
displaying general information
sharing business data
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Course and Assignment 3
Lectures Weeks 10-12
Intranet Functionality 1: Message
Boards, Real-Time CHAT, WebCHAT
etc
Intranet Functionality 2: Textual
Media and Database Integration
Intranet Functionality 3: Temporal
(Audio, Video) and New Media
(QTVR, VRML)
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Course and Assignment 3
Lectures Weeks 10-12
I
II
III
8-12 Intranets
1 Subject Synopsis
2 Data Comms
3-6 OA, CSCW,
Groupware
7 SGML
HTML,
WWW
13-14 Future
Developments
Lectures
Tutorials
Writing in
Commerce
Client-side
Client-side
A1
A2
NetObjects
NetObjects
Team-based A3
NetObjects
Search Engines
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Internet Chat
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Internet Chat
Internet Chat unlike e-mail can be
used to implement synchronous
communications tools for intranets:
allow two or more users to maintain an
open channel
information can be sent and received in
real-time (no significant time delay)
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Internet Chat
once text-only, Chat tools support
graphics and hypertext links.
unlike other technologies discussed in
this lecture, Internet Chat has relatively
low bandwidth requirements
makes Chat a good intermediate tool for
facilitating synchronous communication
among groups on Intranets/Extranets
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Internet Chat
Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was designed
as a replacement for the UNIX talk
function, which enabled two people to
converse in text in real-time over the
Internet
multiple users converse in text using a
shared channel on the Internet.
became very popular, due to its use in
the Gulf War etc.
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Internet Chat
Technical Protocol
Protocol used in implementing Internet
CHAT is described in RFC 1459
three different communication methods
are used with the IRC protocol:
client to client
one to many: one to a list or to a channel
broadcast: to all IRC servers on the
network
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Internet Chat
Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
Consists of a network of > 10,000
users online at any given time. IRC
worldwide has on average:
about 18,000 users, and
5,000 channels or discussion areas
commercial IRC client products are
available to help users communicate
using IRC.
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Internet Chat
IRC Nets
popular IRC Nets include EFnet,
UnderNet and DALnet (see Links
section).
Chat services, like those at America
Online (AOL), account for about 30%
of revenues
lots of commands used, and a
netiquette surrounding its use
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Internet Chat
Login Procedure
users run a client program, which
connects to either the IRC network or
the company's own server.
chat servers pass messages from
user to user over the Chat network.
logged in, the user can list all the
channels, and join the necessary
channel.
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Internet Chat
Channel selection and Paging
on joining a channel, anything the
user types can be read by the other
channel members.
It is possible to page other users
who are in different channels, and to
talk to a user privately by using the
/msg command.
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IRC Commands
General & Private
General Commands
NICK
changes your nickname
QUIT
exits your IRC session, (same as BYE, SIGNOFF and EXIT)
HELP prints help on the given command
WHOIS displays information about someone
WHOWAS displays information about someone who just left
AWAY leaves a message saying you're not paying attention
Private Conversation Commands
MSG
sends a private message
QUERY starts a private conversation
NOTICE sends a private message
NOTIFY warns you of people logging in or out IRC
IGNORE removes output from specific people off your screen
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IRC Commands
Channel Commands
Channel Commands
LIST
lists channels, number of users, topic
NAMES shows the nicknames of the users on each channel
JOIN
sets your current channel, (same as CHANNEL)
WHO
gives a listing of users
INVITE sends an invitation to another user
LEAVE leaves a channel, (same as PART)
KICK
gets rid of someone on a channel
TOPIC changes the topic of the channel
ME
sends anything about you to a channel or QUERY
DESCRIBE sends anything about you to a person or channel
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IRC Commands
Editing & Client-Client
General Editing Comands
!
recalls previous commands for re-editing
HISTORY
displays the command history
LASTLOG
lists the most recent messages
CLEAR
puts some white space on your screen
Client-to-Client Commands
CTCP
performs certain client specific actions
DCC
handles direct connections to remote clients
DCC SEND
initiates a file transfer
DCC GET
accepts a file transfer
DCC CLOSE
ends a DCC connection or offer
DCC LIST
shows current DCC connections
DCC CHAT
initiates a secure chat between two clients
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IRC Commands
Administration
Administrative Commands
ADMIN
displays information about a server
LINKS
shows the servers on the IRC network
SERVER
switches your primary server
MOTD
displays the server message-of-the-day
USERS
prints users logged on the server machine
DATE
shows server current date and time
TIME
shows server current date and time
LUSERS
gives a brief listing of users, servers and operators
TRACE
shows the server connections of the given server
STATS
shows some irc server usage statistics
INFO
shows useless information about IRC
VERSION
shows client and server version number
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Internet Chat
Message Boards
related technology to IRC is that of
message boards- where files can be
posted to a ‘shared area’
when the user logs in either:
an email is sent by the Message Board
System informing them that a message
or file is available for download, or
the message or file is simply delivered
to them
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Internet Chat
Business Applications
Business users should use a graphical
user interface to IRC- don’t need to
learn the commands
until recently, few businesses actually
depended on chat systems in the
Extranet and Intranet environments.
but, WebChat lends itself to a variety of
business communication applications
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Internet Chat
Business use in Extranets
Easy business case to mount for
Extranets
companies use corporate Web site to
allow public visitors to join a chat group
in which particular product information
from the company is being discussed
sales representative from the company
moderates the chat room
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Internet Chat
Business use for Intranets
Brainstorming consuming less bandwidth than video-conferencing, Internet
phone conference calls
Special interest discussion groups
Real-time technical support
Human Resources- enhancing
employee training methods
Example: Quarterdeck's Global Stage
http://www.qdeck.com/chat/
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Internet Chat
Intranets Usage Issues (1)
there are a number of issues relevant
to the decision to include Chat
facilities on intranets:
Restricted channels- Moderated and
unmoderated channels
number of simultaneous users
what kind of technical support,
maintenance, and upgrades
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Internet Chat
Intranets Usage Issues (2)
Integration with broad range of Webbased member databases
are custom enhancements available or
possible
what are the capabilities of the client
client applications for business should
have graphical or command-based user
interfaces. Most IRC clients use slash
commands, such as /JOIN
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Internet Chat
Intranets Usage Issues (3)
is the client supported on all relevant
machine architectures
is easy the product easy to use
does the product support open systems
intranet chat is unsecured- what about
extremely sensitive information; privacy
issues
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Internet Chat
New Developments
New developments include:
Chat directly integrated into 4.0 Browsers
New proprietary Chat Based technologies
(ICU- see later)
Java applet-based chat services
3D chat enabled by Virtual Reality Markup
Language (VRML) in which channels
become virtual and where users can
explore them as spaces
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Internet Chat
VRML based CHAT
Users create an avatar to represent
themselves in the virtual space
the avatar can communicate basic chat
expressions such as a grin with simple
animations (based on CHAT netiquette)
because of bandwidth limitations, highspeed intranet environment is needed
to make it work sensibly
what can it be used for in business?
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Internet Chat
VRML based CHAT
software is available that enables
you to scan in body parts (your own
for example) and create a character
that can be used in VRML based Chat
sessions
the business case for this kind of
capability is dubious at best!
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Internet Chat
VRML based CHAT Examples
Active Worlds Chat- one of the first VRML
Chat systems. Requires proprietary
browser to run demo
Microsoft V-Chat: 'beta' VRML chat field.
Free VRML chat client available.
OnLive! Technologies: several beta
browsers and clients available with chat
sites such as MTV, Monday night football
and a kewl world called Utopia.
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Extended Chat: ICQ
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ICQ- I Seek YouICQ is an example of a technology
that provides extended Chat services
including message boards etc.
I will attempt to install the Groupware
version of ICQ for BUSS909 Intranet
provide chat facilities and conferencing
for individual and group online
consultations between lecturers
students, students- students, etc...
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ICQ Menus
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ICQ
User Services
ICQ is a product based around
extensions to Internet Chat
it enables users to know who is online at any time and enables users to
contact each other at will
it also provides facilities for message
boards, data conferencing, file
transfers and Internet games
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ICQ
Peer-to-Peer
supports any peer-to-peer application
a peer-to-peer network is in effect a ‘serverless’ network where all the functions are
performed through two or more workstationsexample of a peer-to-peer network is Lantastic
a peer-to-peer application is in effect a 1:1
application
examples of peer-to-peer applicationsMicrosoft NetMeeting or Netscape CoolTalk
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ICQ
Supports Multiple Users
also provides a multiple-user mode,
so groups can conduct conferences
client runs in the background, but
alerts the user when specific people
log-in
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Summary
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Summary (1)
Web browser enabled Chat provides
employees to explore a text-based
method of real-time communication,
it also preserves bandwidth for other
intranet applications
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Summary (2)
while Internet phones and videoconferencing are more sophisticated
Internet communications tools
but Chat is a more practical and
realistic choice to facilitate
synchronous communication within
a corporation.
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Further Reading
 Earthweb.COM- IT Library: Intranets Unleashed
http://www.itlibrary.com/library/1575211157/contents.htm
 Fournier, R. (1999) A Methodology for Client/Server and Web
Application Development Yourdon Press Computing Series, NJ:
Yourdon Press, Prentice Hall
 Naik, D. (1998) Internet Standards and Protocols Redmond,
Washington: Microsoft Press
 Greer, T. (1998) Understanding Intranets Strategic Technology
Series Redmond, Washington: Microsoft Press
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Links
Connected Media.COM IRC Central Newbies Page
http://www.connected-media.com/IRC/newbies.htm
Johansen, O. N. (1999) IRClub on Efnet http://www.irclub.org/
Undernet http://www.undernet.org
DalNet http://www.dal.net
ICQ Inc. http://www.icq.com/index.html
Pioch, N. (1997) A Short IRC Primer
http://www.blackened.com/irchelp/ircprimer.html
Groupware ICQ Download http://www.mirabilis.com/groupware/
Sven Technologies- Avatar Maker
http://www.avatarmaker.com/products/avatarmaker/
Quarterdeck's Global Stage http://www.qdeck.com/chat/
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