[WEB4LIB] RE: Virtual reference and "chat speak"?

[Nancy Sosna Bohm]

Correction on my earlier post--
I wrote:
"...The librarian's inability to speak 'chat' could frustrate a patron..."
But meant to say:
"...The librarian's inability to understand 'chat' could frustrate a
patron..."

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sloan, Bernie" <bernies at uillinois.edu>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <web4lib at webjunction.org>
Sent: Friday, November 15, 2002 3:26 PM
Subject: [WEB4LIB] RE: Virtual reference and "chat speak"?


> Just to clarify one thing, I was not considering whether it would be
> inappropriate for virtual reference librarians to indiscriminately use
chat
> speak.
>
> I was considering how often a virtual reference librarian might actually
> encounter "chat speak" from users. And the preliminary answer is "not
> often".
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nancy Sosna Bohm [mailto:plum at ulink.net]
> Sent: Friday, November 15, 2002 3:06 PM
> To: bernies at uillinois.edu
> Cc: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Subject: Re: [WEB4LIB] Virtual reference and "chat speak"?
>
> Although Bernie's findings clearly indicate that it would be
> inappropriate for the virtual reference librarians to indiscriminately
> use 'chat speak,' it would still probably be a good idea for those
> librarians to gain familiarity 'with "chat speak"' BEFORE virtual
> reference becomes ubiquitous, and a librarian is left wondering what a
> patron means by 'brb' or 'btw.' The librarian's inability to speak 'chat'
> could frustrate a patron just as would a librarian's inability to speak
> any language. It could also lower the librarian's credible 'techno
> factor' in the eyes of the user.
>
>
> On Fri, 15 Nov 2002 11:03:48 -0800 (PST) "Sloan, Bernie" wrote:
>
> > I've heard a number of people say that librarians need to be familiar
with
> > "chat speak", since interactive virtual reference services generally use
> > chat as a means of communication between librarian and user.
> >
> > This made me think: "Do chat reference users approach virtual reference
as
> > if they were in a chat room, or as if they were chatting with friends
> > using
> > an instant messenger"?
> >
> > My preliminary finding can be summed up as: "A little bit, but not
much."
> >
> > I searched 444 Ready for Reference session transcripts for
> > occurrences of 33
> > chat abbreviations, and found just two transcripts that used chat
> > abbreviations. In each case the chat abbreviation was "LOL" (in the
> > context
> > of these transcripts, "LOL" appeared to stand for "lots of luck", rather
> > than the more commonly used "laugh out loud").
> >
> > Then I decided to look for emoticons. I searched all 877 session
> > transcripts
> > for occurrences of three commonly used emoticons: smiling, winking, and
> > frowning. Combined, these emoticons occurred in just 43 of 877
> > transcripts.
> >
> > So, less than one half of one percent of 444 Ready for Reference
> > transcripts
> > contained chat abbreviations. Less than five percent of 877 transcripts
> > contained emoticons.
> >
> > I would have to say that, at least in the case of Ready for Reference
> > users,
> > chat reference users don't seem to bring informal chat language
structure
> > with them into the chat reference transaction. But your mileage may
vary.
> >
> > Bernie Sloan
> > Senior Library Information Systems Consultant, ILCSO
> > University of Illinois Office for Planning and Budgeting
> > 616 E. Green Street, Suite 213
> > Champaign, IL  61820
> >
> > Phone: (217) 333-4895
> > Fax:   (217) 265-0454
> > E-mail: bernies at uillinois.edu
> >
> >
>
>
>
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