Chatting & E-conferences

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Chatting & E-conferencing

Contributor(s): Steven Weinberger.

Overview

Chatting, in contrast to instant messaging, generally means that it is set up with the presumption that multiple people will be talking together. In addition, there are typically thematically defined "Chat rooms" set up that people can enter and leave. E-conferencing is a broad term that can embrace any way that a communication technology is used for multiple people to hold a conference using the Internet, whether that involves audio only, video, or possibly even a shared "whiteboard" that each participant can write on from their remote location.

In the meantime, we suggest using external link: ICQ Lite for instant messaging and chatting. ICQ exists in multiple language environments, and is probably the most popular such protocol used in Tibet itself. external link: Yahoo Chat is another site offering free chatrooms and instant messaging.

Using MSN Messenger Audioconferencing

This is documentation for using the audioconferencing feature of MSN Messenger instant messaging.

  1. If your computer does not have a microphone and/or speaker, connect an external microphone and/or speaker.
  2. Click on the “Start” button, and then click on “Control Panel.”
  3. Double-click on “Sounds and Audio Devices.”
  4. Click on the “Voice” tab.
  5. Under “Voice recording” click on “Test hardware” and then follow the directions.

Then launch the MSN Messenger application.

  1. Pull down the “Tools” menu and select “Audio/Video Tuning Wizard.”
  2. Follow the directions to tune for your microphone and speakers.

You are now ready to audioconference. The person with whom you are going to speak must be one of your contacts. If they are not, create a contact for them.

  1. Double-click on the person.
  2. In the toolbar at the top of the window, click on the icon above the word “audio” (alternatively, pull down the “Actions” menu and under “Audio/Video” select “Start an audio conversation.”)
  3. This will invite your partner to join the conversation. Once your partner accepts the invitation and the connection is established (which might take a few seconds for overseas connections) you can converse.
  4. To end the conversation click on the “Audio” icon again.

Provided for unrestricted use by the external link: Tibetan and Himalayan Library