Leonardo Electronic Almanac Discussion (LEAD): Vol 14 No 5<br><br>:: Live chat with John Cayley about writing in immersive VR, new media poetics, and other topics.<br>:: Chat date: Monday, October 9.<br>:: Chat time: 11am West Coat US / 2pm East Coast US / 8pm Paris FR / 4am Melbourne AU
<br>:: LEAD is an open forum around the New Media Poetics special Issue of Leonardo Electronic Almanac.<br><br>Chat instructions are below. The LEA website includes instructions and a complete list of upcoming chats: <a href="http://www.leoalmanac.org/journal/Vol_14/lea_v14_n05-06/forum.asp">
http://www.leoalmanac.org/journal/Vol_14/lea_v14_n05-06/forum.asp</a>.<br><br>John Cayley is a London-based poet, translator, publisher and bookdealer. Links to his writing in networked and programmable media are at <a href="http://www.shadoof.net/in">
www.shadoof.net/in</a>. His last printed book of poems, adaptations and translations was Ink Bamboo (London: Agenda & Belew, 1996). Cayley was the winner of the Electronic Literature Organization's Award for Poetry 2001 (
<a href="http://www.eliterature.org">www.eliterature.org</a>). He is an Honorary Research Associate in the Department of English, Royal Holloway College, University of London, and has taught and directed research at the University of California San Diego and Brown University, amongst other institutions. His most recent work explores ambient poetics in programmable media, with parallel theoretical interventions concerning the role of code in writing and the temporal properties of textuality (bibliographic links are available from the shadoof site).
<br><br>::<br><br>How to participate in the live chat?<br><br>Live chats will use Jabber (<a href="http://www.jabber.org/">http://www.jabber.org/</a>), an open, secure, ad-free alternative to consumer IM services like AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo. It is the most widely-used open source instant messaging and chat protocol. The New Media Poetics chatroom is on the
<a href="http://jabber.org">jabber.org</a> public server under the name "leanmp" and the password "leoalmanac." Follow three easy steps and you are ready to join the chat:<br><br>1) Download and install a Jabber client. A list of recommended Jabber clients is available at the following url:
<a href="http://www.jabber.org/software/clients.shtml">http://www.jabber.org/software/clients.shtml</a>. For Windows users, we recommend the Exodus client. For Macintosh users, please use Psi, as the other recommended clients do not consistently register on the Jabber server. For Linux, Psi is also available, but the other recommended clients should work as well.
<br><br>2) Register as a user on the <a href="http://jabber.org">jabber.org</a> public server. When you first open your Jabber client you will see a start screen. If you do not see this screen, or if you are not starting the client for the first time, the screen is also available in a pull down menu as Account Details or Preferences (depending on your Jabber client). Enter a username, password, and server. Use any username and password you choose. Enter "jabber.org" as the server. When you register, if your proposed username is taken, you need to choose another. Check the button for "new account" or to automatically register the account (depending on your client). Note: you may not be able to register if you are not using one of the recommended clients listed above. Hit OK or Login. Your Jabber client will then automatically register you and connect you to the
<a href="http://jabber.org">jabber.org</a> server.<br><br>3) At this point, you are ready to chat, but there is one more step: you must join the chatroom. Select "Join a Chat Room" from your client's pull down menu. Enter the name of the chat room: leanmp. Enter the password: leoalmanac. You can also specify a nickname or "handle" to use while in the chatroom. Hit "Finish" or "OK" to join the chat. The chat room window will open and you are ready to go! Note: the chat room may not be available outside of scheduled chat times.
<br><br>Additional information is available at the Jabber userguide: <a href="http://www.jabber.org/user/userguide">http://www.jabber.org/user/userguide</a>