NEWSDIVER - CHAT
NewsDiver - Visual Chat, Software Application for Newsgroup - 2000
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What it is
As we have different types of conversation in real life (face-to-face, phone, letters, etc.), we need different types of interaction online as well. While Newsdiver has a news reader that accomodates asynchronous conversations, Visual Chat allows members who are online to have synchronous conversations.
Problems of Current Group Chat Systems
• Users do not know who is speaking to / answering whom and to what or whose question.
• Users do not know the current status of other users. Example:Is John a slow typer or has he left? If a user types slowly, it becomes difficult for him/her to participate in the conversation because topics in chat rooms often change quickly; other users move on without knowing that s/he was trying to participate.
• New chat users do not know what has been discussed. No history is present upon entering a chat room.
Solution Provided by NewsDiver
• Users choose a color to represent themselves and written messages appear in (respective) colored rectangles. On the left side of the interface, users present are listed with their colors as well as their name, increasing recognizability.
• To reply, users select a message they want to reply to and the system automatically locates and creates a linked colored rectangle near the message they’ve selected. Selections default to the most recent message.
