Coming soon... An on-line, "real time" conference for discussing film/TV issues. I'm currently working on a set-up that will allow us to gather at a central spot in the Internet and chat about film/TV in real time. That is, we'll be able to type messages and have them >instantaneously< read by the discussion's participants. It's something I've been interested in for SCREEN-L, but which is not possible through listservs and the e-mail upon which they're dependent. A real time (I hate that phrase; what other type of time is there?) discussion permits an >immediate< exchange of views. The mechanism through which this will be accomplished is PMC-MOO, a new service just started up by the electronic, Internet-distributed journal, POSTMODERN CULTURE. Here's their announcement of it: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- _Postmodern Culture_ announces PMC-MOO. PMC-MOO is a new service offered (free of charge) by _Postmodern Culture_. PMC-MOO is a real-time, text-based, virtual reality environment in which you can interact with other subscribers of the journal and participate in live conferences. PMC-MOO will also provide access to texts generated by the journal and by PMC- TALK, and it will provide the opportunity to experience (or help to design) programs which simulate object-lessons in postmodern theory. PMC-MOO is based on the LambdaMOO program, freeware by Pavel Curtis. To connect to PMC-MOO, you *must* be on the internet. If you have an internet account, you can make a direct connection by typing the command telnet dewey.lib.ncsu.edu 7777 or telnet 152.1.24.90 7777 at your command prompt. Once you've connected to the server, you will receive onscreen instructions on how to log in to PMC-MOO. If you have problems connecting to PMC-MOO or would like more information, contact [log in to unmask] by e-mail. -------------------------end of original message------------------- Included in the PMC-MOO environment is a Conference Room where folks can meet and discuss issues. What I plan to do is establish a time >each week< when users interested in film/TV can convene in the Conference Room. I haven't fully tested this out yet, but I'd suggest that those of you interested in such a real time conference go ahead and check out PMC-MOO so that you can get a feel for the place. It's fairly easy to get around in (easier, say, than CompuServe or GEnie), but it takes a little getting used to. The one thing I'm perplexed about is: when would be a good date/time to hold such a conference each week? Should it be a weekday? A weeknight? A weekend? I've been thinking mostly of doing it at 9:00 pm, >Eastern< time zone, on Tuesdays. Folks on SCREEN-L and around the Internet are in so many different time zones, it's hard to know what time would be most convenient. Any suggestions would be welcome. More details will follow when I've had a chance to test this out a bit more. | Jeremy Butler | | SCREEN-L Coordinator [log in to unmask] | | Telecommunication & Film Dept * The University of Alabama * Tuscaloosa |