Convey allows people across the globe to collaboratively draw images while chatting online. Using pictures in addition to words makes communicating online fun and easy.

We originally intended Convey to be used for online education and learning. Since then, we discovered you can use Convey for practically anything.

For instance:

• You can use Convey to get help from a friend with your geometry assignment,
• You can distract yourself from geometry by sending doodles to friends,
• You can also use Convey to invent and play online drawing games.

Convey is an Instant Message (IM) program. You can send an message to a friend, but unlike email, the message instantly appears on your friend's screen if they are online. Otherwise, the message is delivered to your friend when they log onto the Internet.

Traditional IM programs only allow you to send text you typed on the keyboard. Convey takes this paradigm further by allowing you to send pictures that you are creating across the network.

Convey uses the Jabber protocol to send its messages. A protocol consists of the rules by which a computer communicates with another computer.

Using Jabber, Convey provides users connections to other popular IM programs, such as AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, MSN Instant Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger.

(Note that not all Jabber servers support connections with other IM programs. The Jabber servers that do support such connections may not in the future. This is up to the owners of these other protocols.)

1. Download the latest version of Convey. Convey runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris.
2. Convey: See the RELEASE notes file for instructions on installing and running Convey on your platform.
3. Register an account on the Jabber server of your choice. Popular ones include jabber.org, jabber.com, and jabber.at. For a complete list of public Jabber servers, see http://www.jabber.org/user/publicservers.php.
4. Tell your friends, family, and colleagues about Convey.