News-Record.com

Sounds like a drastic measure. Is there no way to secure an instant message session? Are some clients and/or networks better at doing it than others? It seems to me that IM would be an incredibly important tool in a reporter's toolbox.

I'm reasonably sure there is, Jason, but given our IT folks' workload and the relatively few people here who appear to use it regularly, the effort spent to track one down and install it probably would detract from solving even more important problems.

security... you guys don't have pages, do you? ;)

Only the thin, flat kind derived from FULLY ADULT trees.

If you need me to help you guys set up something, ping me or have Herb ping me. There's a number of ways to have secure IM without sacrificing security. We do it at Moto all the time (we have internal IM but we have a way to do outside also if we need it).

Virus protection is simple, just block file transfers and URLs from showing.

Sue, Sean and a whole bunch of other people that I know currently that communicate via IM also encrypt the conversations so they don't go through clear text. It's not unbreakable, but it's definitely useful.

I would actually go the other route and suggest that you guys ask all reporters to use IM. E-mail is okay, but IM is the easiest for a really quick and dirty response type messaging, somewhere between a phone call and email. I dislike short e-mail conversations and sometimes there just isn't time to pick up a phone. Reporters could get a lot of interesting tips via IM and practically all of the major tech blogs have an IM channel (eg. Lifehacker).

Let me know if you need me for the tech.

Thanks for the offer, Ben. I've forwarded a copy of your message to the IT folks.

i just got off (the dreaded) IM with khoi vinh, user experience director at the nytimes, and he says they all use IM -- to speak with editors, reporters, etc. he suggested looking into a jabber server for internal conversations (n&r staff). ben, does that sound right to you?

adult trees. heh.

FULLY adult.

We've actually already got an IM system as part of our print publishing system (although it really is "instant" -- all messages die out daily at midnight, as I once learned the hard way). I'm forwarding your suggestion to the IT folks as well, but I'm under no illusion that this will become a priority for them anytime soon. (And that's not a criticism, just a fact.)

yeah. Jabber server works. Basically what GoogleTalk is. There's a good one out there called Wildfire.

http://www.jivesoftware.org/wildfire/

There are others also, but one place to start.

had nothing at all to do with Foley IMs, eh?

BTW, we already to what DM suggested above; block all incoming 'cept text. It's sensible. Don't need to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

No adult trees were predated upon during the course of this conversation.

Actually, they've been discussing this for some time. I recommended lesser measures, but absent some great uprising in the newsroom, it's just easier for them to institute a blanket ban. And to reiterate, that's just a fact, not a criticism. Our IT folks are no more drowning in spare time and resources than News is.