To meet in a chatroom, everyone in class will need to install a “chat client.” This is a little program the will connect to the chat, show you what people are saying in one window, and allow you to add your own comments and commands in another window.

I personally like ChatZilla, because it doesn’t depend on using a particular operating system like Windows or Mac, but rather just depnds on the browser.  There are other options.

We will be using old-school IRC (Internet Relay Chat). –Relish the historical experience!

1. Install whichever chat client you’ve chosen.
2. Next, open your chat client and navigate to the chat: it can be found at irc://freenode/rhetorix/ –this probably means typing or pasting this address into an adress bar in your chat client.
3. The first time you’ll need to register a username.
4. You may need to join #rhetorix in a separate step, depending on your chat client.
5. Try signing in a day or two early in case you run into any trouble; you’ll have time to sort it out.
6. Here is a link to basic IRC commands; they are pretty simple: you type them into the same little box where you also type the things you want to say.

I will demonstrate how this works in class, but if you have a chance, give it a try before hand.  That way you can ask better questions!