[arg_discuss] ARG SIG in 2007

[Brooke Thompson]

On 1/2/07, Hugh Davies <marcus.helm at gmail.com> wrote:

> 

> I havnt used IRC before, just skype, but i will get it up and running and

> will join in. How hard can it be.

> hugh


Assuming that the desire to use IRC holds up (which I'll voice my preference
of as well)... it's not hard at all. You don't even need to download
anything as there are web applets galore - both in java and cgi. The latter
of which will get you around most (all?) firewalls and are what many IRC
regulars use to connect to if work blocks irc ports. 

For a somewhat detailed walk-thru on connecting to chat-solutions (other
networks would work as well, but not with the unfiction java applet that is
listed there), check out this post on the unforums:
http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14144 Of course the
channel name would change and will likely be announced closer to the date. 



On 1/2/07, Brian Clark <bclark at gmdstudios.com> wrote:

> Downside of IRC (can you tell I've PMed?) is that it tends to produce

> noisy

> conversations full of short ideas and lacks the emotional nuance of voice

> communications. Conversely, it's more difficult to filibuster and less

> likely to succumb to the tyranny of the long-winded.


Which would be true of any text based chat, including skype. And as a PM
that's relied on IRC to facilitate weekly meetings across long distances, I
find it to be more effective than conference calls in part because of the
logs (no need to keep notes distracting you from the communication) and also
because it does help the long-winded (often myself) to speak succinctly.
Combine that with another communication/collaboration tool (wiki, forums,
basecamp, email...) in order to enhance the discussions started in the chat.
Really, this may be more that I hate phones than I like IRC - but I rarely
find conference calls to be effective when the number of people in the call
is greater than 3.