IRC

Introduction
Although it is completely unofficial, a number of us involved with the Text Encoding Initiative have been hanging out in an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel. This allows us to communicate on all sorts of topics quickly, and occasionally a bit of social banter. In order to join into the network and the #tei-c channel you will need to use an IRC client which you run on your computer.

The technical information needed is:
 * Server: irc.freenode.net
 * Channel: #tei-c

More information is available about the freenode network if you wish.

IRC Commands
IRC is at its heart a text-based discussion network. This network is controlled by text-based commands prefixed with a '/'. Text without this command prefix is sent to the chat channel. In many modern clients there are graphical buttons or other methods instead of typing the following commands. However, for reference, some basic IRC commands are:


 * /away [message] (Set an away message, or use no message to return from being away)
 * /away In a meeting, back at 1pm
 * /invite [channel] (Invite a user to join the current or a specific channel)
 * /invite JuliaF #tei-c
 * /join  (Join an existing or new IRC channel)
 * /join #tei-c
 * /list (Display a list of channels on a server. Warning, this can be quite large!)
 * /list
 * /me  (Perform an action in a channel or private chat)
 * /me yawns and falls asleep over Chapter 16.
 * /msg  (Send a private message to a user (as opposed to a channel))
 * /msg Syd What is your opinion on floating elements?
 * /names [channel] (List the users currently in a channel)
 * /names #tei-c
 * /nick  (Change your nickname)
 * /nick SebastianR
 * /part [room] [message] (Leave the current channel, or a specified channel, with an optional message)
 * /part #tei-c I'm off to the pub!
 * /ping [nick] (Asks how much lag a user (or the server if no user specified) has)
 * /ping LOU
 * /quit [message] (Disconnect from the server, with an optional message)
 * /quit I'm off to the pub!
 * /whois  (Get information on a user)
 * e.g. /whois James-C

There are other commands, but those basic ones should allow you to

Channel Robot
Currently sitting on the #tei-c channel is a fake user. This user is the venerable 'BedeBot', an Eggdrop IRC robot. While most of his functions have been turned off, there are a number of commands setup up for the benefit of #tei-c users.

TEI P5:
 * ? tei:elementName (Display the description of a particular P5 element)
 * ? tei:teiHeader
 * ? @attribute (Display the description of the first definition of an attribute in the guidelines) N.B.: This should be revised to show all instances of that attribute, when I have time.
 * ? @desc
 * ? tei.className (Display the description of a particular P5 class)
 * ? tei.phrase

N.B.: You should provide a space between the question-mark and the tei-style keyword.

Google:
 * !google (Search google for the top 4 results of your keywords)
 * !google Text Encoding Initiative
 * !g TEI XSLT stylesheets   (!g is an alternative short form for !google)
 * !g site:tei-c.org overlap (various google search options are available)
 * !g 23 C in F (conversions are part of google search options)
 * !image (Search google for images)
 * !image Lou Burnard
 * !gi Julia Flanders (!gi is an alternative short form for !image)
 * !local near (Search google local)
 * !local pubs near oxford
 * !gl restaurants near 90210 (Google local accepts post/zip codes)