Illinois Chat: Group Chat Rooms

This page contains information about creating and using group chat rooms in Illinois Chat, a secure instant messaging (IM) service that allows University of Illinois members to chat and exchange files safely.

Introduction

Group chat rooms are available in Illinois Chat. These permit groups of people to chat together in an isolated, secure "room" that allows each person to see the comments made by any other person in the room.

Membership for these rooms is restricted, and only authorized users can take part. In the group chat rooms, your NetID will be the default name that identifies you to other members of the room.

Creating or joining chat rooms with your IM software client

When you want to chat in a chat room, you can either create a new chat room and send invitations to your room, or join an already-existing chat room to which you are invited.

Choose your instant messaging (IM) software client from the list below:

Spark

Pidgin

iChat

Adium

If you use IM software that is not listed here, consult your IM software's online documentation for more information.

Connecting to an existing group chat

Each IM client has its own method of connecting to an existing group chat. However, the important details to remember are:

Host: conference.illinois.edu
Room: Use the name of the room provided to you by the person who created the room.
Nickname: your NetID

For more information on how to connect to an existing chat, see the IM software client chat room pages linked above or your IM client's online documentation.