Ethics and Law in New Media/Some considerations for live chat

NOTEː The course is INACTIVE since August 2014 - this page is left here for reference only.

When participating in a chat, please consider the following:

• It's very difficult to regulate the order of speech without suppressing the discussion. This will result in large volumes of text, occasionally with several threads running in parallel. The only solution is to minimize the noise and try to keep your contributions on topic.
• Use your actual first name and surname. It's very difficult to know eveyone's nicknames in a larger chat.
• When replying to someone, it's good to start the reply with his/her name (e.g. John:, @Jane, Mary => etc)
• Keep the noise level low - think a second if the words you plan to write will contribute to the discussion or not. While some humour is welcome, try to keep it connected to the topic.
• Refrain from rapid switches of discussed matter, as it will result in two totally different threads in parallel. If you want to ask anything from another field, mark it with "Offtopic" or direct it to a specific person (see above)
• If you want to suggest a new topic, please mark it clearly ("I have a different question" or something similar). Also, the best time to start a new topic is when there is a moment of silence.
• Always consider the possibility of misunderstanding - if it's not clearly proven otherwise, assume misunderstanding, not mischief. The more people there are, the easier it is to misunderstand something.
• If your question is not answered, wait for some time and repeat it. Sometimes it may get lost in the great volume of text.