ABSTRACT
Instant
messaging has brought an effective and efficient real-time, text-based
communication to the Internet community. In addition, most instant messaging
applications provide extra functions such as file transfer, contact lists, and
the ability to have simultaneous conversations, which strengthens the reliance
of wider sectors of users on these applications. In this project we explore the
various attempts to create a unified standard for instant messaging in
conjunction with a language translator designed specifically for the three most
common languages in Nigeria (Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo). We show the efforts of
organizations such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in this
regard, in addition to some proprietary solutions. We also shed some light on
the different types of protocols that are used to implement instant messaging
applications. Furthermore, the practical uses of instant messaging are
highlighted alongside the benefits that will be reaped by organizations
adopting the technology. We dedicate some parts of this project to review
current and future research in the field. Various research trends and
directions are discussed to show the impact of instant messaging on users,
businesses and the decision making process.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The
origin of the Internet begins with the invention and discovery of digital
computers in the 1950s. Initial phenomenon of packet networking originated in
several computer science laboratories in the United States, United Kingdom, and
France. (Kim, Byung-Keun 2005) The US Department of Defence awarded contracts
as early as the 1960s for packet network systems, including the development of
the ARPANET. The first message was sent over the ARPANET from computer science
Professor Leonard Kleinrock's laboratory at University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA) to the second network node at Stanford Research Institute (SRI).
Packet
switching networks such as ARPANET, NPL network, CYCLADES, Merit Network,
Tymnet, and Telenet, were developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s using a
variety of communications protocols. Donald Davies first designed a
packet-switched network at the National Physics Laboratory in the UK, which
became a testbed for UK research for almost two decades. (Couldry, Nick 2012)
The ARPANET project led to the development of protocols for internetworking, in
which multiple separate networks could be joined into a network of networks.
Access
to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 when the National Science Foundation (NSF)
funded the Computer Science Network (CSNET). In 1982, the Internet protocol
suite (TCP/IP) was introduced as the standard networking protocol on the
ARPANET. In the early 1980s the NSF funded the establishment for national
supercomputing centers at several universities, and provided interconnectivity
in 1986 with the NSFNET project, which also created network access to the
supercomputer sites in the United States from research and education
organizations. Commercial Internet service providers (ISPs) began to emerge in
the very late 1980s. The ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990. Limited private
connections to parts of the Internet by officially commercial entities emerged
in several American cities by late 1989 and 1990, (Baran, Paul 1991) and the
NSFNET was decommissioned in 1995, removing the last restrictions on the use of
the Internet to carry commercial traffic.
In
the 1980s, research at CERN in Switzerland by British computer scientist Tim
Berners-Lee resulted in the World Wide Web, linking hypertext documents into an
information system, accessible from any node on the network. Since the
mid-1990s, the Internet has had a revolutionary impact on culture, commerce,
and technology, including the rise of near-instant communication by electronic
mail, instant messaging, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone calls,
two-way interactive video calls, and the World Wide Web with its discussion
forums, blogs, social networking, and online shopping sites. The research and
education community continues to develop and use advanced networks such as
NSF's very high speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS), Internet2, and National
LambdaRail. Increasing amounts of data are transmitted at higher and higher
speeds over fiber optic networks operating at 1-Gbit/s, 10-Gbit/s, or more. The
Internet's takeover of the global communication landscape was almost instant in
historical terms: it only communicated 1% of the information flowing through
two-way telecommunications networks in the year 1993, already 51% by 2000, and
more than 97% of the telecommunicated information by 2007. Today the Internet
continues to grow, driven by ever greater amounts of online information,
commerce, entertainment, and social networking.
Online
chat may refer to any kind of communication over the Internet that offers a
real-time transmission of text messages from sender to receiver. Chat messages
are generally short in order to enable other participants to respond quickly.
Thereby, a feeling similar to a spoken conversation is created, which
distinguishes chatting from other text-based online communication forms such as
Internet forums and email. Online chat may address point-to-point
communications as well as multicast communications from one sender to many
receivers and voice and video chat, or may be a feature of a web conferencing
service.
Online
chat in a less stringent definition may be primarily any direct text-based or
video-based (webcams), one-on-one chat or one-to-many group chat (formally also
known as synchronous conferencing), using tools such as instant messengers,
Internet Relay Chat (IRC), talkers and possibly MUDs. The expression online
chat comes from the word chat which means "informal conversation".
Online chat includes web-based applications that allow communication – often
directly addressed, but anonymous between users in a multi-user environment.
Web conferencing is a more specific online service that is often sold as a
service, hosted on a web server controlled by the vendor.
The
first online chat system was called Talkomatic, created by Doug Brown and David
R. Woolley in 1973 on the PLATO System at the University of Illinois. It
offered several channels, each of which could accommodate up to five people,
with messages appearing on all users' screens character-by-character as they
were typed. Talkomatic was very popular among PLATO users into the mid-1980s.
In 2014, Brown and Woolley released a web-based version of Talkomatic.
The
first online system to use the actual command "chat" was created for
The Source in 1979 by Tom Walker and Fritz Thane of Dialcom, Inc.
The
first transatlantic Internet chat took place between Oulu, Finland and
Corvallis, Oregon in February 1989.
(http://securitydigest.org/tcp-ip/archive/1989/02). The numerous limitations of
the internet chatting gave rise to instant messaging.
Instant
messaging (IM) is a type of online chat that offers real-time text transmission
over the Internet. A LAN messenger operates in a similar way over a local area
network. Short messages are typically transmitted bi-directionally between two
parties, when each user chooses to complete a thought and select
"send". Some IM applications can use push technology to provide
real-time text, which transmits messages character by character, as they are
composed. More advanced instant messaging can add file transfer, clickable
hyperlinks, Voice over IP, or video chat.
Non-IM
types of chat include multicast transmission, usually referred to as "chat
rooms", where participants might be anonymous or might be previously known
to each other (for example collaborators on a project that is using chat to
facilitate communication). Instant messaging systems tend to facilitate
connections between specified known users (often using a contact list also
known as a "buddy list" or "friend list"). Depending on the
IM protocol, the technical architecture can be peer-to-peer (direct
point-to-point transmission) or client-server (an Instant message service
center retransmits messages from the sender to the communication device). One
the problems faced by Instant messaging since its inception is its inability to
instantly translate one language to another so that users speaking different
language can easily communicate. It is on this background however that this
research work was embarked on to design a multilingual chat application.
1.2. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM:
In
recent years, along with the development of Internet communication
technologies, various network-related applications are springing up. In the
Web2.0 era, social network and its related applications are the hottest topics.
Among them, the instant messaging (IM) has become nowadays an important medium
for people to communicate for its convenience and free of use. The instant
messaging has shortened the geographical distance between people all over the
world - the conversation is as easy as sitting in front of the computer and
popping fingers to type – the text communication has become easy and efficient.
However, the invisible distance – the barrier results from the different
native-languages people speak has not been eliminated yet. Imagine that if
there is a Hausa Internet users sitting in front of his computer, how to
communicate through the instant messaging to have a conversation with him? So
the language barrier during instant messaging is the reason behind this project.
1.3 AIM
and OBJECTIVES
The
following forms the objective of the study;
1.
To design a
multilingual chat application
2.
To incorporate
all the languages in Nigeria into the chat application so that anybody who
speaks any language of Nigeria origin can use it
3.
To evaluate the
existing literature of instant messaging and access the already made
multilingual chat application and improve on their deficiencies.
1.5. SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH
This
research work is limited to the development of a web based multilingual chat
application. The implemented languages are; English, Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba
1.7. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Hundreds
of millions of people use IM to stay connected. In many ways, IM epitomizes the
notion of the always-connected, multitasking student, sending and receiving
messages at all hours, from a wide spectrum of devices, while doing several
other things at the same time. While this dynamic expands access to students
who are uneasy with other types of communication, it also provides new modes of
expression for students who are otherwise comfortable participating in class.
IM
creates an environment that approximates the sharing of a physical space,
allowing distance students to engage in learning that approaches face-to-face
meetings. The technology is also promoting the practice of creating “back
channels,” or secondary conversations that happen at the same time, for
example, as a lecture, board meeting, or conference call. Students in a lecture
hall might use IM to ask each other questions about the lecture topic and share
their thoughts without interrupting the professor. Eliminates use of additional
multi-language tools in chat activities and users can retain mono-lingual
typical chatting style, even in cross-lingual situations with chat normalization.
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
CERN:
The
name CERN is derived from the acronym for the French "Conseil Européen
pour la Recherche Nucléaire", or European Council for Nuclear Research, a
provisional body founded in 1952 with the mandate of establishing a world-class
fundamental physics research organization in Europe. At that time, pure physics
research concentrated on understanding the inside of the atom, hence the word
"nuclear".
Instant Messaging:
Instant
messaging (IM) is a type of online chat that offers real-time text transmission
over the Internet. A LAN messenger operates in a similar way over a local area
network. Short messages are typically transmitted bi-directionally between two
parties, when each user chooses to complete a thought and select "send".
Some IM applications can use push technology to provide real-time text, which
transmits messages character by character, as they are composed. More advanced
instant messaging can add file transfer, clickable hyperlinks, Voice over IP,
or video chat.
World Wide Web:
The
World Wide Web (abbreviated WWW or the Web) is an information space where
documents and other web resources are identified by Uniform Resource Locators
(URLs), interlinked by hypertext links, and can be accessed via the Internet.
English scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989.
Protocol:
This
can be defined as a set of rules and regulations that determine how data
is transmitted in telecommunications and computer networking.
Cryptographic protocol, a protocol for encrypting messages
URL:
A
Uniform Resource Locator (URL), colloquially termed a web address, is a
reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network
and a mechanism for retrieving it. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource
Identifier (URI), although many people use the two terms interchangeably. A URL
implies the means to access an indicated resource and is denoted by a protocol
or an access mechanism, which is not true of every URI. Thus
http://www.example.com is a URL, while www.example.com is not. URLs occur most
commonly to reference web pages (http), but are also used for file transfer
(ftp), email (mailto), database access (JDBC), and many other applications.