Chat
describes a direct (written) communication between two or more persons
in the Internet in real-time. The designation chat already indicates
the origin and most common use of this technology. As a matter of fact,
this form of communication established itelf in the fun area in the
beginning. Contrary to popular opinion, chat communication does
consitute a valuable supplement to the communication spectrum even in a
business environment.
Major advantages are:
low costs:
Contrary to telephone and video conferences, chat technologies are a
more flexible alternative: little technical effort, simple organization
and cost-effective implementation.
automatic logging:
The otherwise necessary task of taking the minutes of a meeting is
needless for chats. The system automatically stores all written
contributions. A further interesting aspect is that chat participants
usually limit their contributions to the gist.
faster information exchange without media discontinuity:
If several different types of media (language, paper, Internet etc.)
are used during an exchange process, media discontinuity is caused each
time the type of media is changed. Media discontinuity causes costs,
mostly in form of transformation and editing efforts. The Internet can
help to avoid these costs, by providing a chat as a dialogue tool on
the website. Users can elaborate on web information directly
without any media discontinuity.
Unfortunately, the conventional (linear) chat technology which is
currently in use and displays contributions in chronological order
constitutes obstacles for users. These mainly relate to unclear
question-answer relations, parallel discussions and a lack of
guidelines or rules regarding the exchange of words.
However, solutions have already been developed among which are the
threaded-chat and the fachtchat. (see also: Beißwenger, M., &
Storrer, A. (Eds.) (2004). Chat-Kommunikation in Beruf, Bildung und
Medien: Konzepte Werkzeuge Anwendungsfelder. Stuttgart.)
At present, chat technologies are mainly used in the following areas:
project communication:
In this area, chat tools are used in combination with instant messenger
programmes (see chapter IV.e.). Thus, the function presence awareness
is integrated which informs about the availability of individual team
members. Presence awareness is a decisive factor for the usage of
chat technologies for project communication. This function makes it
possible to save time which would need to be spend on reaching a
colleague (via telephone, real-life meeting).
More and more specifically arranged meetings take place in chatrooms.
group discussions in market research:
In market research, chat technologies are used for online group
discussions. Advantages are cost-savings, reduction of socially desired
answers (due to increased anonymity) and automatic creation of a
protocol.
Boundaries result from limited representativeness (no area-wide
coverage), reduced communication possibilities (no body language,
non-verbal techniques are not applicable) and the increased effort to
moderate and conduct the discussion successfully.
recruiting:
Companies such as Siemens use chats as a preliminary stage to job
interviews or assessment centers. A larger number of interested
candidates is advised and informed about required qualifications before
the job application. Moreover, this form of direct dialogue offers the
possibility to find out which questions and topics are currently
important to applicants.
All described areas of application have in common that they are used as
a part of a bigger, more extensive communication solution. Spontaneous
communication in chatrooms happens seldomly. Most of the time, chats
are dedicated to specific topics and are announced beforehand. The
integration of experts (expert chats) has proven appealing in this
context.
