IM's and IM-nots
Okay. I'm out of my medium here on this one. I defer to those with more current IT experience.
Though I was an early adopter of ICQ in 1996, I've not needed instant messaging for quite a few years. Well let's face it: I just didn't have any kin or friends geeky enough to bounce these little messages off of. And I sure don't want to go looking at random for buddies. How desparate is that!
Just prior to discovering blogging, I gave ICQ another look and it was populated with spammers and worse. All I didn't need was IM-SPAM and IM-P_RN. I thought surely there must be a community in cyberspace worth getting to know; and I found you nice folks! But now I need to use an instant messenger as a means of communication with my upcoming class.
I have had AIM recommended to me by someone at the univ that uses it with his students. So, after uploading and getting it set up, it seems you can't send a message unless someone on your list is online. Pooh. With ICQ, after you created your "buddy list" you could send messages regardless. If they weren't online, your message popped up as soon as they logged on. THis is a very desirable feature from my perspective. So...
Other than ICQ, are there other IM's that will allow offline messages? Which of these IM's would you use for this purpose, and what are the strong suits of some you have found useful? I'd sure appreciate the benefit of your experience before I randomly sign up in ignorance.
Teach this chronologically-gifted canine some new tricks. Arf!
Comments
Okay, I'm dense. Why can't you use just plain old email to communicate with students who are offline?
Posted by: trish | December 14, 2004 6:21 PM
I've used Yahoo's IM for years without too many problems. There are occasional spam messages but it hasn't been too bad overall. I've worked for two major corporations who used Yahoo IM for internal communications. You can send offline messages, files, use voice, and set up a private online chat room for your entire class if needed.
Posted by: fletch | December 14, 2004 7:54 PM
Hi Fred -
Most kids on college campuses use AIM far, far more than any other instant messanger. If you have to use AIM, you can post whatever notice you need to in your profile and tell them to check it often. The only other way that would really reach most kids at my school is e-mail. Of course, most people on a college campus are signed on to AIM all the time anyway. You just have to add them to your buddy list.
Posted by: Norm | December 14, 2004 9:12 PM
I would download GAIM - it's an open source IM client that lets you communicate with ICQ / AOL / Microsoft and yahoo folks all from one program, without enduring the annoying advertising that those companies tend to pump through their IM clients.
You can IM offline users with AOL - its called buddy pounce. At least you can do it from the GAIM client.
Posted by: Chris | December 14, 2004 9:57 PM
I cast a vote for Yahoo's IM. The user ID is usually (always?) the same as their email address, less the @yahoo.com, so you get an email path to your student to boot. And its free.
Posted by: Carl | December 14, 2004 11:15 PM
Trish,
I think my colleague found that students communicate with each other using an IM anyway, and they tend to discuss the subject matter in this way if lead to do so. He uses it too esp before a test, setting up a chat schedule where one student's question gets answered by the prof and all "attending" can benefit from it.
Chris, I like the concept of a commercial-free IM like GAIM. It's non-windows file formats etc might be off-putting for most IM users. I know it is a bit for me. I feel less comfortable amongst the code writers. Maybe I'm wrong re this.
Posted by: fred1st | December 15, 2004 5:22 AM
I use Yahoo more than anything. It has offline messaging, and also has easy web cam integration.
Posted by: Trey | December 15, 2004 8:55 AM
I'm with the majority of the group here. Yahoo offers the ability to send IMs to those who are offline, you can organize your buddy list however you'd like, and you can be on all the time in stealth mode....leaving spammers no target.
Posted by: Da Goddess | December 18, 2004 4:11 AM