Wireless and Instant Messaging - JISC.DOCVIP

Wireless Presence and Instant Messaging Yanna Vogiazou Knowledge Media Institute The Open University MK7 6AA Milton Keynes United Kingdom Tel: +44(0) 1908 654775 Email: I.T.Vogiazou@open.ac.uk ? JISC 2002 table of contents 1. Executive Summary 2 2. The Technology 2 3. The Technology Watch Issue 5 4. Technical Overview 6 4.1 Messaging Developments 6 4.1.1 Mobile Messaging Standards 6 4.1.2 Protocols and networks 7 4.1.3 Java application development 8 4.2 Interoperability 8 4.2.1 Billing – related problems 8 4.2.2 Standards Bodies and Protocols 9 4.2.3 The example of Jabber 10 4.3 Other constraints 12 4.3.1 Privacy concerns 12 4.3.2 Security 12 4.3.3 Usability 12 5. What is the value for HE/FE 12 6. Future directions 14 7. Acknowledgments 15 8. Resources for further information 15 9. Glossary 16 10. References 18 1. Executive Summary The advances of new technologies and the convergence of different communication media are constantly changing not only our means and modes of communication with other people, but the notion of connectivity itself. Rather that being online or offline, we can be ‘connected’ in many different ways and without directly interacting with technology itself. ‘Presence’ awareness, facilitated by Instant Messaging applications, mobile phones, wireless handheld devices, location tracking and so on, can make someone reachable almost at any time. In view of this rapidly developing field, this report aims to identify the most important issues related to the development of Instant Messaging and Presence enabled applications for wireless devices. The outline of the document is as follows: The subsequent section describes the technology and highlights the move of Instant Messaging (IM) to the wireless world. Then, Chapter 3 identifies the importance of Wireless Presence and Instant Messaging and the application domains affected by the introduction of these new technologies. The following section, titled Technical Overvie