Under Construction: Appendix One
Annotated IRC transcript
The author’s ‘nick’ (name/character/handle) in this example is djini. Messages preceded by a ‘>’ symbol were written by the author (e.g. > hi jezabel). Messages preceded by a name in angled brackets were written by other characters in the chat environment (e.g. Jezabel: hi djini). Messages in green are system announcements, used to notify participants of changes in the people present, net-splits and so on (e.g. *** `BluEyes^ has quit IRC (Quit: bbl)). Messages in purple are actions, which can be created by participants by using the ‘/me [action]‘ command (e.g. “/me waves hello” will appear to all participants as “djini waves hello“. This is quite a popular way of expressing thoughts, observations, general information and feelings, as well as specific actions (e.g. * kingofnyc enjoys a cup of earl grey tea).
Things to look out for:
- djini (the author) obviously knows Jezabel from a previous encounter. She enquires after Jezabel’s room-mate, and knows her geographical location (Australia).
- There is a small misunderstanding concerning Jezabel’s response to djini’s first question. Jezabel says “quiet djini:) how r u”, meaning ‘it is quiet’, but which djini interprets as meaning “be quiet”. Hence, she quickly responds “oops sorry :)”.
- Jezabel makes a small typing error, which changes the meaning of her message completely: Jezabel: he is only on her once or twice a week these days. This kind of mistake is extremely common in chat situations, as participants need to respond quickly to maintain the flow of the conversation, and rarely have time to check for errors before pressing ‘return’ to post their response.
- At one point, a new participant attempts to join the conversation, but is ignored: Leminx: Hello all. This lack of acknowledgement can sometimes be intentional, but can also occur simply because other participants do not notice the greeting. Often, newcomers need to say hello two or three times before they are acknowledged. However occasionally, as demonstrated in this example, the new participant leaves quickly after receiving no immediate response.
- The participants in this chat environment use a number of TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms – although this is a misnomer, since such acronyms regularly contain more than three letters. An extensive list of commonly used acronyms is available in Appendix Two) and emoticons (a derivation of ‘emotion’ and ‘icon’) during the session. These help to illustrate or elaborate on their messages. They can also change the meaning of the message, to indicate that the writer is only joking, or is being cheeky, or is not taking their own words too seriously. Examples include:
- brb = Be Right Back
- bbl = Be Back Later
- :) = generic ‘smiley’ (grinning)
- :p = smiley sticking tongue out (being cheeky)
- *g* = grin. Putting things in asterisks is a way of underlining or emphasising words or phrases in a text-only interface.
- lol = laughing out loud. Although this is rarely true, it is a common way of appreciating a vaguely humourous comment.
- ppl = shorthand for ‘people’
- ;) = winking smiley (shows ‘only joking’ or tongue-in-cheek)
- gmta = Great Minds Think Alike
- l8r = shorthand for ‘later’
- afk = Away From Keyboard
- cya = shorthand for ‘See You’
- The time delay between posting and reading messages is quite obvious at points. Often, a number of posts go by between a message and the response to it. In this example, where djini has to explain the meaning of a particular acronym to kingofnyc, she posts another message before responding to his question. It is quite possible that cycleman wrote and posted his message while djini was writing that she had to leave, and it was only after noticing what he had asked that she responded. Meanwhile, two other posts had slipped by. This ‘lag’ can lead to some difficulty in reading the transcript/log, since it appears to have no continuation, and therefore be quite confusing.
Session Start: Tue Aug 25 12:15:39 1998 *** Now talking in #ircbar > hello all Jezabel: well we had a mist....stuff got mostly dry > hi jezabel fUmBLe: mmmm mist Jezabel: hi djini fUmBLe: brb `BluEyes^: bbl ya all Jezabel: cya green *** kingofnyc has joined #ircbar *** `BluEyes^ has quit IRC (Quit: bbl) > hows life on the other side of the world, jez? Jezabel: hi king:) Jezabel: quiet djini:) how r u? fUmBLe: afk > hi king kingofnyc: evenin jez > oops sorry :) * djini is fine but busy (as always) Jezabel: :) kingofnyc Jezabel: u must be djini..havent seen u in a while kingofnyc: did you have a good one * djini works too damn hard Jezabel: was ok cycle:) u? Jezabel: take time off then djini kingofnyc: so far so good. only have one eye open *g* > ...don't i wish.... > tired, king? Jezabel: its quiet king..all u need:) kingofnyc: just getting up * djini has been up for hours and hours and hours... > how's your roomie, jez? :) *** furriii has quit IRC (Operation timed out) Jezabel: busy djini..workin rite now Jezabel: he is only on her once or twice a week these days Jezabel: here > poor thing :) * djini liked your little typo, though... Jezabel: lol Jezabel: that could get me in trouble hehe kingofnyc: i also thought it was interesting :p fUmBLe: lol just read that for the 3 rd time Jezabel: sleepy fum? > wake up fum! Jezabel: how embarrassin!! fUmBLe: ok ok need a coffee * djini gets fUmBLe a big mocca Jezabel: fumble u live on coffee! * kingofnyc enjoys a cup of earl grey tea * djini sips her tea and smiles *** Nulka has joined #ircbar *** Nulka has left #ircbar * Jezabel takes a big gulp of decaf diet coke > oh well, hi+bye nulka kingofnyc: those ricochet's make you want to duck > what no sugar? no caffiene? how do you survive, jez? fUmBLe: yes i do Jez....woohhooo jugs boiled :) Jezabel: i dont get fat or hyper djini:) > where r u cycle? > good move, jez :) kingofnyc: south east georgia usa * djini applauds jez for her common sense *** Leminx has joined #ircbar *** bambam has joined #ircbar *** chez^ has joined #ircbar Leminx: Hello all Jezabel: thanx djini:) most ppl think im weird *** chez^ has quit IRC (Quit: Leaving) *** bambam has left #ircbar fUmBLe: your not weird Jez * djini ducks from all the ricochets Jezabel: then what am i fumble? fUmBLe: sound normal to me > you really want that question answered, jez? :) fUmBLe: a good stirrer but normal > lol *** Leminx has left #ircbar Jezabel: thats a better answer than i expected fumbl:) fUmBLe: well the sanest out of a bunch of truley wacko ppl * djini resembles that remark :) kingofnyc: hey i resemble that remark > GMTA kingofnyc! ;) * fUmBLe is in a nice mood tonite...not really out to score a point kingofnyc: GMTA? Never heard that before?!? > well, i should get back to the grindstone, ppl Jezabel: i dunno if i wanna be considered THAT sane.. fUmBLe: well i am certified...got the paper to prove it > GMTA= Great Minds Think Alike, king :) > lol fumble > i'll pop in later, i guess Jezabel: cya djini..dont work too hard fUmBLe: vya djini kingofnyc: be safe dj * djini won't work too hard, promise ;o) kingofnyc: works for me > catch ya l8r all * fUmBLe looks about Session Close
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