Community II: Tools & Resources

by Heather Champ

The more time one spends online, the more one comes to believe that the Web is on the road to an inevitable assimilation into the mire of mass media.

While this has been given somewhat of a stamp of approval or lent an air of credibility to ensure the Web's existence and viability, it may mean a loss of some of the breadth of possible inherent interactivity in the medium in the long run.

Many of the developments in browser technology seem to be rooted in commercial applications. For example, while frames are a great presentation tool for presenting libraries of documents, they seem to have become the layout method of choice for ad banner placement.

This is rather a gross generalization but it will become increasingly important for designers to be vigilant in supporting developments in browser technology that further community rather than further a movement towards the Web functionally as a billboard for more advertisements. The growth of tools like chat and instant messaging are wonderful resources for cultivating user participation within a site.

Free Chat

Java Chat is a key tool that enables developers to incorporate community building elements within a site. A number of these products are free, and easy to add.

How can these companies offer free services? While participating in these forums, users will be subject to advertising. Given that most users have come to terms with ignoring banner advertisements, it may not be too much of an imposition. Yahoo lists a variety of forums and services. Here are a few worth mentioning:

• Earthweb Java chat ChatPlanet, the Center of the EarthWeb Chat Network, is the central resource for the largest, most widely-used Java chat network on the Internet. It serves as the central directory and calendar of events to over 10,000 Web sites using EarthWeb Chat.
• Talk City Chat @ Talk City also offers a free forum for individuals or groups.
• Club Chat Avatar based free chat.
• Quantum Web Chatting.

Instant Messaging

Instant Messaging is creating quite a stir in the online community. A service that has been long integrated within closed communities such as America Online and Compuserve, it is making the jump to the Web.

While not strictly a utility that a designer can use to add functionality, providing pointers to these services will increase the functionality and user experience. These services are still in their infancy, so expect rapid growth and additional features as more developers enter the fray.

• AOL Instant Messenger: America Online unveiled a limited beta version of AOL Instant Messenger last month. It's free for download though currently only available for the Windows 95/Windows NT and Java environments. Windows 3.1 and Macintosh versions will be available later this year.
• ichat Pager: The ichat Pager is designed to offer visible notification of who is online and enable the user to instantly send text messages, begin real-time chats, engage in Real Audio sessions, and share URLs.
• Mirabilis ICQ (I Seek You) has a variety of features that allows user to check to see if friends are online, and also offers Chatdirect, Filedirect and Messagedirect, an offline messaging service.
• Coming soon: Activerse is scheduled to release Ding! in a few weeks. It's possible to pre-register now for launch notification.