1. Instant Messaging & Presence Marc Eisenstadt, Stuart Watt Knowledge Media Institute OU Learning & Teaching Innovation Committeee 6 th February, 2002

2. What Do These Have in Common? Hotmail ICQ + AIM Napster+ Morpheus+ 84 million active accounts 70 million registered users 61 million registered users 65 million downloads since fall 1999...The fastest-growing apps in history!

3. What Else in Common? Person-to-person asynchronous messaging Person-to-person real-time messaging Person-to-person file sharing People are the key Peer-to-peerPeer-to-peer Peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer Hotmail ICQ + AIM Napster+ Morpheus+

4. Typical IM session

5. Not the same as chat FirstClass chat Presence ‘radar alert’

6. Many varieties; similar concepts ICQ AOL Instant Messenger Yahoo! Messenger MSN Messenger Odigo Trillium Jabber (open source, XML-based)

8. Key insights We can harness wild popularity (people use it anyway, but big outfits have own solutions) ‘Always on’ is not required: just assume ‘improved access’ (e.g. flat-rate phone charges) Accept inter-operability Encourage ‘enhanced presence management’ (e.g. lightweight ‘radar’)

9. BuddySpace KMi’s current experiment in presence management Partly EPSRC-funded (begins May 2002) Automatic map construction to show locations Automatic roster construction using OU’s LDAP and SAMS authentication… so it knows which workgroup or tutorial group I’m in Many views: map, timelines, etc.

10. Plain chat Embedded browser for custom ‘news flashes’ etc. Automatic roster construction during login = personal tutor group, work group etc.

11. Typical view of OU tutorial group Automatic roster construction during login = personal tutor group, work group etc.

12. Automatic map construction from user data

13. Smart inset chosen, depending on actual data

14. Map & faces are customised; dots display true status

15. Floorplan of KMi; Dots are those of interest to me

16. OU campus map

17. World, Europe, KMi floorplan all together

18. Timeline view, e.g. which TMA?

19. What next? Several course teams already expressing interest An ‘agnostic’ client can be built (emphasises the ‘popup radar’/dashboard aspect, then chat takes place using FirstClass, MSN Messenger, etc.) Worth OU investment Trials needed