The IRC environment even allows files to be exchanged. Should the situation require it, the chat environment also allows a user to type private comments, viewable by only one other participant. Each person types "comments" that the entire group can see. IRC allows participants to contribute to discussions on an equal basis. IRC can accomplish all of these goals without the problems and expenses associated with conference calls or physical travel. A high school class might wish to arrange a "visit" from a noted author or scientist. Perhaps a class of elementary students wants to discuss a joint project with a partner classroom across the country or even across an ocean. A group of educators taking a class at a university may wish to "hear" a guest "speaker" via the Internet. Several teachers in different states may wish to collaborate on a workshop that will be presented at a national conference. In the educational arena, individuals from distant places frequently need to discuss plans, projects or theories. These electronic "conversations" run the gamut from general chit-chat to exchanges of highly specific scientific or technical information, to conversations between school children and guest authorities. They, in turn, can type messages that all the others may read. IRC, more formally referred to as Internet Relay Chat, provides a means by which one user can type a message in real time to one or more Internet users, and almost instantaneously, the message appears on the monitors of all the other users who are monitoring the transmission. WHILE THE WORLD WIDE WEB receives most of the publicity, another aspect of the Internet also draws considerable attention.
0 kommentar(er)
