Clueful Chatting
Clueful Chatting is the concept of correctly and properly typing in an online environment. The use of proper language online aids in better communication and builds one's credibility. Clueful chatting pushes for more intellectual discussions online and allows people to communicate with each other without being misinterpreted. Several tools are made available to aid in better communication such as ClueNet and DiVinci Bot. Ethical concerns regarding credibility and cheating is prevalent in this type of communcation.
Contents
Theory
In the online environment, most people do not realize what a difference it can make to use proper punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. When another person does use language properly, it is quickly noticeable and draws respect for what they are saying. The simple act of clueful chatting leads to credibility and responsibility. What is being said is more professional, appears less emotional and is more convincing if appropriate language is used. Improper language is normally a result of simple laziness, however to others it can appear to be careless, disrespectful, or even offensive. When an idea is presented with facts, logic, and proper language use it becomes much more valid than one presented with acronyms, drawn out words, excessive capitalization or misused punctuation, even if both hold legitimate content.
ClueNet in clueful chatting
ClueNet is an online collaboration that works for better communication online. The creators believe that it is a collaborative and positive environment can be created when smart people come together and are willing to help one another. [1] They provide free services to users and aim to create more intellectual, purposeful environments online which can help others. They offer an IRC server (ClueIRC), mail accounts, and Shell accounts, along with other smaller services. They believe in clueful chatting because they realize that using proper language online can influence one in other environments.[2]. They recognize that online hierarchies, such as those in chat rooms, develop out of respect for the users (much of which is gained through clueful chatting). ClueNet uses the DiVinci bot to enforce clueful chatting on its ClueIRC.
DiVinci bot
Online bots, or web robots, are often used to manage communication on the internet. Along with many other popular and commercial uses, bots can be used to monitor human activity or the activity of other technologies at extremely fast rates. They can search through and filter information for specific things at a rate which humans could never do.
The DiVinci bot is one which ranks users on their use of clueful chatting. It uses a scoring system to award and deduct point to users in chat. It has a set of specific guidelines which it follows in order to provide each user with a score. The higher the score, the better the user is using clueful chatting. All users start with a score of zero and can go in the negative or positive direction depending on how well they type.
Guidelines for the DiVinci bot
Users are ranked based on their scores given by the DiVinci bot. The categories include[3]:
Lamer - Less than -1500 points.
Not clueful - Between -1500 and -1000 points.
Needs alot of work - Between -1000 and -500 points.
Needs work - Between -500 and -10 points.
Neutral - Between -10 and 25 points.
Clueful - Between 25 and 50 points.
Very clueful - Between 50 and 500 points.
Extremely clueful - Between 500 and 1000 points.
Super clueful - Between 1000 and 5000 points.
Clueful elite - Between 5000 and 100000 points.
Clueful God - Above 100000 points.
DiVinci awards two points for every sentence starting with a capital and ending in a punctuation mark (including smileys) and awards one point for a sentence beginning with a capital but not ending in a punctuation. There is a list of ways in which DiVinci takes away points. There is also a list of words which denotes DiVinci to ignore the sentence. Some of the ignored words include brb, lol, wtf, etc. There are also a list of user commands so that users can know how they are scoring as well as how other users are scoring.
Ethics of Online Communication and Clueful Chatting
As Wilkinson discusses in “Assessing the Value of Cooperation in Wikipedia,” it is crucial to examine the quality of online article, such as those in Wikipedia.[4] Clueful chatting deals more closely with the communication directly between individuals, but the reasons and ethics behind this theory are parallel to those behind the quality of any online text. Whether or not online communication is anonymous or whether the identity of the individuals is (supposedly) known, credibility and responsibility are to be taken into much consideration.
In an age where internet use is widely accepted as an appropriate means of educating, with 100 percent of public schools in America having one or more computers located in every classroom strictly for educational purposes as of 2008,[5] it is ethically important that clueful chatting be employed on websites to ensure that all of America's youth are receiving the best and most accurate unbiased information for their education as possible. It can be argued that if youth are constantly exposed to sources that are not credible and websites that do not properly site their information (all as a result of sloppy speech employment), they will not find the need to credit others for their work, which is in essence a type of cheating.
External Links
Refrences
- ↑ Chules' Guide to Clueful Chatting, v2. http://a.core.cluenet.org/main/wpage.php?section=default&page=Clueful_Chatting
- ↑ http://a.core.cluenet.org/main/wpage.php?section=irc&page=Clueful_Chatting Clueful Chatting
- ↑ DaVinci http://a.core.cluenet.org/main/wpage.php?section=default&page=Bot:D\aVinci
- ↑ Wilkinson (2007) "Assessing the value of cooperation in Wikipedia"
- ↑ http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=46
