This guide explains the differences between instant messaging, real-time text and traditional textphones. It is aimed at deaf and hard-of-hearing people who are looking for the best ways to communicate by text. It also provides guidance for businesses and organisations that want to make themselves accessible to deaf people. The guide indicates which systems are most suited for use in the home, at work or on the move.
Instant messaging (IM) and real-time text (RTT) systems enable you to use your computer or mobile network to hold text conversations with other people.
Clearly, in the case of the largest computer network of them all - the public Internet - there are tremendous advantages in being able to easily and affordably enjoy conversations with other Internet users, who may be across the room or in a faraway country. But if desired, the reach of an IM or RTT system can be restricted, for example, to within just a small company network.
Most such systems allow you to have conversations with more than one person at a time if you wish. Some let you chat by voice or webcam as well as by text. If so, you can readily switch between voice, text and video pictures - a feature which many deaf and hard of hearing people find particularly useful. As we shall see, IM and RTT systems offer many other convenient features.
IM and RTT are designed for holding instant conversations. Unlike email systems, IM and RTT systems usually provide "presence", a list of your contacts on screen showing which ones are available to converse. On IM systems, this is sometimes called a buddy list. In RTT systems it may be called an address book; but unlike an email address book, you can see who is available online for conversation.
Email is not well-suited to holding conversations. For instance, if you want to agree where to meet someone, at what time, how you will travel and what you will do, you might need to exchange half a dozen emails over the period of half an hour.
By contrast, IM and RTT systems are much more suitable for this type of interactive conversation. If the other person is available, the sentences you type reach them almost instantly. They can reply immediately just by typing into a text entry window on their screen. Usually, you take it in turns to type, but as in a face-to-face conversation, you can interrupt if necessary. Whether you are asking a quick question or planning complicated arrangements, IM and RTT provide for speedier conversations and immediacy.
Many computers and mobile handsets are supplied with email programs ready installed. If you need to be able to use an IM or RTT system, you may have to obtain and install a small IM or RTT "client" program yourself. Often you can download these clients from the Internet.
When holding a text conversation, a person usually types one or two phrases or sentences at a time. In the case of most IM systems, those words will not actually be sent until the "return" or "enter" key is pressed. Then they will all appear at once on the other person's screen.
However, when using a RTT system, each letter is sent as you type it. The other person sees your typing letter-by-letter and they can be confident that you are still there. This is rather similar to the way traditional textphones work on the telephone network. In fact, RTT systems such as the ones developed by RNID can also be used to communicate with traditional textphones and text relay services such as RNID Typetalk using a telephone network "gateway". We have found that the letter-by-letter presentation of RTT makes for smoother and better experience when making relay calls.
There are several similarities. Both send text character-by-character, providing immediacy. Thanks to gateways, RTT users and textphone users can communicate with each other. Also the RTT systems and textphones available in the UK both allow you to make calls to hearing people using RNID Typetalk. Each usually offers the text equivalent of an answering machine too.
But there are important differences. RTT systems are usually cheaper than textphones. They use your existing keyboard and screen so you don't need extra equipment. Traditional textphones need a telephone line, incurring line rental and call charges for use. RTT can use local networks or global computer networks such as the Internet instead, so you can usually make text calls to other RTT users across the world at no additional cost. With RTT systems, there is no unfamiliar new equipment to take up space and learn how to use. After initial installation, you run and control RTT client programs just the same way as the other familiar programs on your computer or mobile handset.
Not only do traditional textphones use many different and incompatible textphone standards, but also it can be difficult to transfer textphone calls to other people. On the other hand, RTT uses the internationally agreed text-over-IP (ToIP) standard for communication. Using another standardised technical protocol called SIP, it is possible to forward calls to other people in an easy way.
There are many different IM systems to choose from. You can download IM client programs for all the popular desktop and laptop computer operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux. Some IM systems are run within the computer's Internet browser, but most are run as separate programs. There are even IM clients for some mobile handsets, including BlackBerrys and phones and PDAs that run the Symbian operating system.
Among the most popular and widely-used IM programs are:
Microsoft (which often rebrands its products) also offers Windows Live Messenger, which is available at get.live.com/messenger
For the most part, each of the big IM systems is designed to work primarily with its own particular client program. So some people run several different IM clients on their computers in order to keep in touch with all their friends who are on different IM networks. Fortunately, most popular IM clients can be downloaded free of charge, so using multiple IM programs is an inconvenience rather than an expense. However, some client programs do allow you to connect to clients of another competing network. For example, users of the Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! IM can communicate with each other. Similarly, users of AIM and ICQ can contact each other.
There is fierce competition among the developers of IM systems. As a result, if one company develops a useful feature, the others tend to soon offer something similar. So, if you decide to install just one IM program on your computer, it's probably best just to choose the one that most of your friends use.
One alternative to installing multiple IM clients is to install a single program from an independent developer; such programs enable you to contact the users of most IM networks. See for instance:
The principal disadvantage of such programs are that the big IM networks sometimes make changes to the way their systems work, which can temporarily prevent the independent "do-it-all" clients from connecting.
When you download an IM program, you may need to have administrative rights on the computer before you can install programs. Also, you may need to permit your computer firewall to allow the IM program to connect to the Internet.
You may be offered the chance to install additional programs at the same time. Be sure that you really want these programs on your computer before agreeing for them to be installed.
IM programs let you choose which friends can see whether you are available (this is called "presence") and who can contact you. You can even send each other links to websites or transfer computer files. These features are useful, but can be dangerous. Computer viruses, worms and trojans sometimes act as if they are trusted friends who want to send you an interesting web link or file. So take care: do not follow web links or download files that you have not asked for.
Many businesses recognise the benefits of their staff being able to use IM to ask each other questions and to conveniently support customers.
It is not unusual for smaller organisations to deploy the same popular clients that individuals use. If you wish to do so, it is advisable to establish an agreed policy for the use of IM. You may wish to ban or limit the use of IM for personal conversations and to lock down clients as far as possible to minimise the risk of malware infecting your corporate network.
For security reasons, it is not advisable for employees to install or use IM software without the consent of their managers and/or IT systems department.
In larger organisations and in certain sectors of industry, when intellectual property must be carefully safeguarded and in the legal and financial sectors, where it may be a requirement to monitor and record all messaging, managers may prefer to deploy enterprise IM solutions, which can be expensive but provide greater security, control and auditability.
These include:
These products enable employees to contact not only fellow staff, but also external customers and partners who use AIM, MSN and Yahoo! IM clients.
In the UK alone, 9 million people are affected by hearing loss. Therefore, a significant number of potential business customers are deaf or hard-of-hearing; many of them prefer or need to use text for communication.
Also, the Disability Discrimination Act requires service suppliers to make reasonable adjustments to enable access by deaf and hard-of-hearing customers. Traditionally, deaf customers have used textphones; not all yet use IM. By installing an RTT system, you enable deaf customers to contact you, and you can ensure that deaf staff can communicate on a more equal basis with hearing staff.
To avoid becoming locked into to proprietary solutions, it is generally a good practice to deploy solutions that work to the relevant open standards, SIP and ToIP.
Internationally, new RTT products are being developed to conform to these standards.
At present there is only one such solution offered by a UK supplier. If your organisation uses Microsoft Windows, you might consider RNID's own product, TalkByText Business Edition.
The business edition of TalkByText Business Edition provides the following features:
The cost of TalkByText Business Edition business edition depends on how many PC client licenses you need and whether you want RNID to provide the gateway to the telephone network. Please Contact Us for more information or a customised quotation.
There are not many RTT systems for personal use. Some software uses a V.21 modem attached to your computer to make textphone calls. These systems are not very user-friendly and require a phone line and a specialised modem. An Internet product, based on open standards, is a better choice.
RNID has developed a family of three different RTT solutions suitable for personal and home use: