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COSP Chat Technical Assistance FAQ's

    Table of Contents

1. What is Chat?
2. About Casual Project Chat
3. About Dephi Project Chat
4. Can I get "live" TA About Chat

What is Chat?

Chat is a form of Internet communication that allows people to type and converse with each other in a group. The conversation takes place in cyberspace, usually on a special chat server. 

Some chat requires special chat software.  The chat formats the project is currently using do not.  As people get more comfortable with the technology of Internet communication, we will probably add additional chat options, like Net Meeting, that do require it.  This next generation of software lets users share files, work collaboratively on them, and has voice and video capability.  Please let us know if your work group or task force would like to try Net Meeting out and we will help you get started.

Currently we have two chat formats:

1. Casual Chat, a chat room (text only) that lets people talk to each other, but does not offer any other features.
   
2. Delphi Chat, a more sophisticated chat form that offers features like logging of chat transcriptions, and moderation for more structured chat meetings.

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About Casual Project Chat

In a way, you can think about casual chat as chat for beginners, as it takes no special skills or advanced knowledge  to use it effectively.  A click on the Casual Chat link on our web chat page will take you to to the chat room.  Once there you choose a screen name (your real name is recommended if you are talking about project business), click the join chat button and you are all set.

If you decide to try it out, you can be pretty sure that you will be the only one in the room.  Chat is like that.  The best way to really check chat out is to arrange for someone to meet you in the chat room at a prearranged time.  When new people enter the chat, the software announces their arrival.  The software also lets you know when someone has left (signed out).

Casual chat is ideal for regular get-togethers of project workers who do not work in the same location.  It is free (no conferencing charges) and low tech.  If you are meeting about something important, and you want a transcription of the conversation that takes place during the meeting, then casual chat is not a good choice.  For that, you should use our Delphi Project Chat Room.

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About Delphi Project Chat

We have chosen to use Delphi as a chat provider because it offers the option of using Java or plain text (actually HTML) formats for chat users.  There are many really good, sophisticated chat clients available, but only Delphi offers a format that is both accessible and sophisticated.

Delphi is the leading (and probably the first) providers of what is being called an Internet Chat Community. Once you have registered with Delphi (something you must do to use the Chat) you will be able to set up your own forum message boards and chat room if you wish.  There are people who spend all their on-line time in the Delphi server.   If your project or work group wants its own free Internet presence, you may want to consider setting it up as a Delphi group.

The Delphi project chat offers some features not available in our Casual Project Chat.   The most useful is probably the ability to get a transcription of the chat session mailed to you as a log.  If you want a formal record of your conversation or meeting, you should use the Delphi Chat.  Delphi chat also can be used to formally moderate chat sessions.  This is useful if you have a large group of people participating and want to appoint someone to moderate the meeting.  If you have 30 people (or even 6) all trying to type in their bit simultaneously, it can get pretty hectic.

Registering with Delphi:

The first time you use Delphi Project Chat you will have to register.  It takes about a minute and does not cost anything.  When you click on our Dephi Chat link on the webchat page, you will be presented with the log in screen.  Follow the directions for becoming a new Delphi member.  Remember to write down the name and password you have chosen.

Delphi uses a "cookie" to remember you when you come back to use Delphi the next time.  All sites that require you to register do similar things if they attempt to remember you.  The cookie tells Delphi who you are.  It does not provide other information to them.  See the Delphi privacy statement for more about this.

After you have registered, you will be prompted for the user name and password each time you use the Chat room.

Setting Chat preferences

As soon as you log in, you will go to the chat entrance.  Before you do anything else, change your chat preferences.  Click on the yellow link.  Your choices are Java or HTML.  Choose HTML if your browser is one of the older types, or text only.   HTML also works better if you are operating behind a quirky firewall.  The preferences you select will stay in effect until you change them again.

Using Delphi Chat

On the Chat Room Screen, you will be able to see if anyone is already in the room.   You can join them if you wish.  You can also choose to open the room yourself if you are the first one there.  Use the default chat room if there is no reason to set up a new one.  If you want to keep a log of the chat, then send a log command as soon as you get to the room.  The log will cover the period from when you send the log command, until when you leave the chat.

1. The command syntax is /log <Name of Your Choosing> < Email address>
   
2. For example: /log Cosp Diversity Group 3/18/99 soehngep@ mimh.edu
   
3. This will send an Email transcription of the chat with Cosp Diversity Group 3/18/99 as the subject line to the Email address soehngep@mimh.edu
   
4. There can be many logs running at once, so that everyone can have their own record of the conversations.

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Revised: May 08, 2002.

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