Meebo – IM with no download
Anyone who has used instant messaging knows the problems of moving to a new computer. You have to download the software on every computer you use. If you use a public computer, you also need to be sure that you don’t save your log in information–assuming that you can download the software in the first place.
Enter the web-based IM clients. Meebo (http://www.meebo.com/) is based on a multi-IM protocol and handles AIM, ICQ, Jabber, GTalk, Yahoo! Messenger, and MSN Messenger accounts. You do still need accounts on whatever services you wish to use, but you can log into all of them at once through the single interface. (This is similar to the desktop clients Trillian and Gaim, but does not require a download.) Very handy when you are on a computer that does not allow download or installation of new software (i.e. most libraries!)
Meebo does not allow file transfer, webcam viewing, or many of the other additional services, but it’s great for basic chatting. In my own work, I have found IM very useful for short collaboration sessions, such as planning a meeting, working out some last minute bugs in a presentation. One group even edited a paper via IM. (We sent round the paper in MSWord by email before the session, then went through it paragraph by paragraph over IM, making suggestions and having one person act as secretary. Afterwards the corrected file was sent off to everyone to review the changes–we used MSWord’s Track Changes feature, which our professor also used for grading.) It’s also nice for just getting to know people. It is often hard to stay on track for long periods of time, however, and since you don’t have the ability to split off new threads, those side tangents get distracting pretty quickly. My advice for IM conferences is to have a single topic to get through, get through it as soon as possible, and then let everyone chat who wants to.
Oh yes, and in IM you will notice connection differences. It’s easy to dominate an IM conversation if you are the only one with a broadband connection, so take it easy if one or more of your group is on dial-up.
Finally, many public libraries, schools, and businesses block IM and chat sites. I generally don’t agree with such policies; I believe that IM is a legitimate collaboration tool, but I do understand the “waste of time” argument. So I’ll include a link to the meebo repeater with a little hesitation. I generally feel that it’s better to work out the problems with the administration through education and pilot programs, but it can be very frustrating in the meanwhile, so I’ll just ask you all to use your best judgement.
