Connecting to the Eventlog Using Pidgin (Windows)
This section describes how to access and join the Eventlog group chat room and add observations using Pidgin (Windows).
Overview
The Eventlog is an online resource for submitting observations related to the live video feeds from the Okeanos Explorer. The Eventlog provides a centralized location where geographically distributed mission and science personnel can record their accounts of live events in real time and instantly view the observations of other users. All observations submitted to the Eventlog are recorded to file and each message has a time stamp that correlates with the clock used to record video and sensor data.
Technically speaking, the Eventlog is a persistent chat room on the EX Instant Messaging Service. Unlike normal chat rooms, a persistent chat room is not destroyed when the last user exits the chat room. It is available 24/7 to all cruise participants with a valid EX account.
Joining the Eventlog Using Pidgin (Windows)
Prerequisites
Before you can join the Eventlog, you must be a participant in the current cruise and have a valid EX account. For more information on getting an EX account, please visit the page on Obtaining an User Account to the EX Collaboration Tools.
You will also need an Instant Message (IM) client that is connected to the EX Instant Messaging Service. For more information please refer to: Connecting to the IM Server using Pidgin (Windows).
You will also need to know how to join an existing chat room. For more information, please refer to: Using the Pidgin Instant Messaging Client (Windows).
Connecting to the Eventlog
From Pidgin:
- Goto to "Buddies" --> "Join a chat"
- For the chat room name, type "eventlog"
- Make sure the server reads "rooms.noaasrs2.gso.uri.edu" – your computer may auto populate this, but if it does not, be sure to enter it before proceeding
- Click the "Join" button, this will open a Conversation Window
If a conversation window is already open, the Eventlog chat window will be opened as a new tab.
Adding Observations to Eventlog
Adding new observations for the Eventlog chat room is the same as adding messages to other chat rooms. If you require additional assistance using Pidgin, please refer to: Using the Pidgin Instant Messaging Client (Windows).
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