Simple collaboration tools—quick and easy KM

Information Outlook, May, 2003 by Stephen Abram

Instant messaging--critical tool for the library world?

Special librarians and information professionals seem hooked on email. We use it for everything. We post and lurk on electronic discussion lists. We deliver results of searches. We communicate, joke, and gossip. There is no doubt that the Internet has changed the way we communicate. For most of us, e-mail has replaced snail-mail and even much of our telephone communication. Most of us started our careers without this tool (and without faxes, the Web, personal digital assistants, and cell phones), and now it dominates our communication toolkit.

Consider this: Studies show that more than 85 percent of people ages 15-25 have at least one instant messaging (IM) account. (My daughter has five, with hundreds of "buddies.") Our profession has nowhere near this level of IM penetration; indeed, based on hand counts at recent conferences, I doubt that more than 10 percent of us even use IM. According to one ARL (American Research Librarians) study, only 12 percent of librarians are in the 25-34 age range, compared with 25 percent in comparable professions. One could speculate that there is an emerging (and worrying) disconnect between our own preferences for communication and those of our future users. So what is IM, and is it worthwhile for us to learn yet another communication modality?

What is instant messaging?

Despite lightning-like speed, e-mail isn't fast enough for some purposes. It feels as though you're sending stuff into a black hole--not knowing whether the recipient is online at that moment, sending multiple emails back and forth to converse in a kind of dysfunctional broken telephone conversation, and waiting, waiting, waiting. Some of us remember the old Prodigy and CompuServe bulletin boards that attempted to address this issue, and some of us have used chat rooms as well. Instant messaging has exploded in popularity because it allows for real-time conversations. IM allows you to maintain a list of people you wish to interact with in real time, often called a buddy list. Sending a message opens up a small window where you and your correspondent can type in messages that both of you can see. For a profession based on knowledge sharing, this tool holds great promise.

Most of the popular IM programs provide a variety of features:

* Instant messages. Send notes back and forth with online peers.

* Chat. Build custom chat rooms for neighbors, peers, and projects.

* Web links. Share links to favorite websites and resources.

* Images. View images stored on another computer.

* Sounds. Play sounds and recordings for groups.

* Files. Share files by sending them directly to a group.

* Talk. Use the Internet instead of a phone to talk with others.

* Streaming content. View real-time or near-real-time stock quotes and news.

Who are the players?

Most of the history of instant messaging is tied up with kids and small communities of interest--IM was more a personal neighborhood than a business application. But things are changing quickly. Enterprises need tools that allow them to communicate quickly and effectively for task and project-specific or team-oriented work. Hence, they are starting to experiment and adopt IM applications such as ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger.

ICQ was one of the first IM programs and can run on virtually all computers after you download and set up the program. It's easy and it's free. You can set your own privacy rules and even leave messages for contacts who aren't online when you are.

AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM) is the most popular IM client on the Net with more than 40 million computers. AIM has more features than we can list here, but many look businesslike: alerts, stock quotes, etc.

Yahoo! Messenger is similar to ICQ and AIM. It includes instant messaging, voice chat, file transfer, and conferencing capabilities, as well as news, weather, and stock reports.

Microsoft's MSN Messenger Service, is simpler and more streamlined. It focuses on excelling at IM only. It has some cool features for setting your whereabouts and options. It is tied closely to Hotmai services.

Trillian is a great instant messaging integrator. A major problem with IM is the lack of interoperability among the different versions. Trillian allows you to connect to ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and IRC (Internet Relay Chat) through just one interface. If Trillian can connect to all the other programs, why not to one another? Trillian is in its infancy, and it's free.

What's on the horizon?

In 2002, America Online quietly secured a patent that could shake up the competitive IM landscape. The patent grants AOL's wholly owned ICQ rights as the inventor of Internet instant messaging, covering any network that allows multiple users to see when other users are present and then to communicate with them.

Also in 2002, a coalition of major financial firms (all, interestingly, with SLA member librarians) began pushing for common messaging standards, asserting that IM was becoming an important business communication tool and that all IM providers should meet standard interoperability and security requirements. Business wants and needs these tools.