Have you ever wondered what it takes to get into a college film/TV program? We'll be holding a real-time chat on the subject of applying to film/TV school next week. Our main guest will be Kirk Brennan, Admission Coordinator, USC School of Cinema-Television, but other colleges will also be represented. When: Monday, 10/28, 9:00 p.m.EST (see below for other time zones) Where: #SCREENchat, on irc.tcf.ua.edu Archive: A transcript of this chat will be available at http://www.tcf.ua.edu/chat/ The method we'll be using is a variation on Internet Relay Chat (IRC). A chat session on the Internet is when computer users gather at a virtual location and type messages back and forth to one another. Unlike e-mail, the interaction is immediate (or as immediate as those bits and bytes can travel along the wires between the computers). The screen of a chat session looks something like this: *** marg ([log in to unmask]) has joined #TCFchat <Jeremy> hey there marg <marg> jeremy! this seems to be working! <Ned> Hands across the ocean and all that! *** Kate ([log in to unmask]) has joined #TCFchat <Ned> Welcome back, Kate. <Jeremy> Yeah, welcome back! <Kate> Hello all! As participants type in messages, they scroll up the screen--often interrupted by notices of who's coming and going. The lines are identified with their chat "nicknames." Nicknames are chosen when one begins a chat session and may be changed during the session itself. Chat Rooms and Channels The "space" online where participants gather to chat is commonly known as a room or channel, and is devoted to some specific topic. For example, SCREENchat hosts discussions on film/TV studies. Chat rooms have long been one of the most popular features of commercial online services such as CompuServe, Prodigy and America Online. And, separately from these services, the Internet has developed its own form of chat named Internet Relay Chat or IRC. In IRC terms, a discussion area on the Internet (the equivalent of an AOL chat room) is called a channel. To access an IRC channel and join a discussion you do not have to subscribe to CIS, Prodigy or AOL. All you need is access to the Internet, and software that taps into IRC. There is a ton of information about IRC out on the World Wide Web. And there is free or cheap IRC software for all manner of computers: Windows-based, Macs, Unix-based, etc. SCREENchat SCREENchat uses the technology of *both* IRC and the World Wide Web to facilitate discussions about film/TV studies. There is no charge for this service and as long as participants are willing to adhere to a few basic rules, everyone is welcome. Okay, So How Do You Start? There are two ways to enter SCREENchat: 1. Using a World Wide Web browser that can handle Java applications (e.g., Netscape Navigator 2.0, Microsoft Internet Explore 3.0.). If your browser doesn't do Java, then you cannot use this method. (Currently there are no Java-enabled browsers for Windows 3.1; you must have Windows95 in order to do Java.) Connect to http://www.tcf.ua.edu/chat/ for more information. 2. Using an IRC client (e.g., PIRCH for Windows and Ircle for Macs) Connect to irc.tcf.ua.edu (port 6667), join channel #SCREENchat. Note: Unlike "regular" IRC, this channel will only work if you are connected to the IRC server at irc.tcf.ua.edu. Next Week's Meeting Time(s) Monday, 28 October (remember to adjust for the end of Daylight Savings) 6:00 p.m., Los Angeles 8:00 p.m., Tuscaloosa, Alabama (and, say, Chicago) 9:00 p.m., New York 10:00 p.m., Buenos Aires Tuesday, 29 October 2:00 a.m., London and, I believe, GMT 3:00 a.m., Paris, Stockholm 4:00 a.m., Cairo 9:00 a.m., Beijing 10:00 a.m., Tokyo 11:00 a.m., Wollongong, Sydney Suggestions/Comments? Kate Bowles (University of Wollongong, [log in to unmask]) and I have been the prime instigators of SCREENchat. If you have any thoughts or questions about it, please drop us a note. ---- Jeremy Butler mailto:[log in to unmask] SCREENsite: http://www.sa.ua.edu/SCREENsite/ Telecommunication & Film/University of Alabama/Tuscaloosa ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]