ActiveBuddy lets companies control bots "The program highlights the company's aggressive efforts to expand the capabilities of instant messaging, which is slowly evolving from offering informal personal chats to supporting applications such as file-sharing and videoconferencing, as well as multiplayer games. ActiveBuddy has been working to make its technology the de facto standard for creating interactive agents. For instance, someone could ask a bot when a movie is playing in a certain neighborhood and receive a short response that lists show times. The company said it hopes to see bots sitting on most IM users' buddy lists within the next year or so." [at News.com]
If you haven't played with SmarterChild (ActiveBuddy's first demo bot), you should. It's interesting, if for no other reason than to show how great librarians are. I'll bet you'll be surprised at some of the things it can do for you.
Still, I can foresee possible uses for this. Library hours, answers to questions in your local ready reference file, registration for programs, maybe even integration with the OPAC to let you know when your ILL request is in. What if one way to search the OPAC would be via IM on your cell phone? Maybe this could be the automated "Wal-Mart greeter" and the second-level of questions goes to a human being. Just thinking out loud here....
Hey, Paul - you want control, eh? Maybe this could get interesting with some grant money. Want to come out and play?
4:29:44 PM 
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