The Break Room Chat Room

From October 1995 until August 1999, dispatchers with access to America OnLine were encouraged to meet every Monday night 2000-2200 EST in the Conference Center at Public Safety America (Keyword: PSA) for moderated chat sessions, with me - "GryEyes911" - as the hostess.

Because only AOL members could access the conference forum (and they had to know how to get there, too, because the Public Safety Center was NOT in AOL's regular "people chat room" area) we naturally excluded a whole lot of our on-line peers. Additionally, AOL access was undependable, quirky, and there tended to be a bunch of field folks who would express surprise (or dissatisfaction!) at having some dispatcher tell 'em that was "our time" and please respect our sanctioned, regularly-scheduled discussions in the Conference Center. We sometimes experienced bashers, as well.

Anyway, after nearly four years there, I moved the Dispatch Chat Sessions off AOL and onto TalkCity, which provides chat client software for those who prefer to use a specialized version of PIRCH, WebTV access, and access by anybody with a java-capable browser.

I registered a "channel" or chat room created just for us and called it #911Comm.

Here's one way to get there right now:

Additionally, I send out a copy of each week's chat log, along with a notice of the next session's topic, to over 200 "subscribers." Shift work and overtime are facts of our professional lives, and not everyone can attend the on-line discussions; there are many, many communications personnel who have asked to have the logs sent to them so they can follow the discussions. I've been told some folks even print 'em to share with co-workers!

The new location on TalkCity is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, just for dispatchers (and those field folks who are supportive of our efforts, or other people with an honest and sincere interest in communicating with communicators). You like us; we'll like you.

Currently, the only scheduled time period set aside for topic-driven discussion is on Mondays, from 1700 to 1900 Pacfic Time. The rest of the time, y'all are welcome to drop in, set a spell and natter with anyone you find in there. (It might even be me, you never know!)

If you've downloaded an IRC chat client such as mIRC or PIRCH, you should know that TalkCity does not support those chat client programs. You CAN, however, download the TalkCity version of PIRCH and access the chat room from within it. (Using this software allows you to do some nifty "chat" tricks, such as change the color of your text, add "action" phrases and even log the discussion. That's why I use it!)

Something to remember: there is NO space between the numerals and Comm; it's one "word." If you do slip up and put a space there, you'll arrive in another room entirely. TalkCity channel names cannot have spaces in them... the server will only read the #911 and plop you into that channel. (Those people using that channel aren't anywhere near as cool as we are!)

As mentioned, right now there aren't any scheduled topics or times, other than those two hours on Monday evenings. Just feel free to make meetings with other dispatchers there! I'm there every Monday night (barring overtime or other unforeseen circumstances) and will occasionally pop in when I'm not busy tinkering with The Break Room.

If you're a WebTVian or you don't have a TC's PIRCH software, but you've got a JAVA-capable browser, you can still access the same room by using the form near the top of this page. AOLers can even participate!

However, I specifically set up #911Comm on TalkCity over TWO YEARS ago so dispatchers with WebTVs can meet others with PCs. Now we're just doing double-duty by holding the scheduled chat sessions there every Monday night.

C'mon and join us!

After all, "chatting" on-line is a natural for dispatchers; we speak for a living, right?

Many of us also work in Comm Centers with CAD systems so we're perfectly capable of typing while talking, too. I've found that on-line chatting really improves my typing speed, so consider it as an exercise to build your CAD keyboarding skills. ...yeah, that's the ticket!

If you've never tried on-line chatting before, you're in for a treat; it's addictive. (Wait, that's not the "treat" part!) It's one of the few methods of net-working without it feeling like work, and you'll discover yourself sitting at a computer - often with no one else around at all - laughing out loud as you read the lines scrolling across your screen.

Here are a very few of the basic conversational abbreviations to understand:

AFK = Away From Keyboard
BRB = Be Right Back
IMHO = In My Humble Opinion
LOL = Laughing Out Loud
LMAO = Laugh My *ss Off
ROFL = Rolling On the Floor Laughing

(It's a continuum thing: put those last two together and you've got the pinnacle of hilarity!)
ROFLMAO

As you can see, laughter is a staple of on-line chatting. It's certainly a great stress-buster, and there's no nasty after-affects like those you could experience in other activities. (Okay, so your face may hurt from laughing, but there aren't any noxious chemicals to get you into that mood. No hangovers, either! .. but you might find yourself spending too much time at your computer, instead of doing what you should be doing....)

Oh, and if you would like to get the weekly chat session logs in YOUR e-mail basket, too, just drop me a line and ask me to add you to the list. (I run a couple of other lists as well, so be sure to mention "Dispatch Chat Logs" somewhere in your request, okay?) Then again, it might be easier if you just use this specific e-mail request: