Unraveling the Ordering in Persistent Chat: A New Message Ordering Feature

Abstract

A common problem in chat is that the chat display only reveals the temporal order of the conversation. A better user interface is desired that reveals the logical order of the messages. The existing tree model groups messages that share the topic together. However, it does not reveal the temporal order of the messages. The temporal order is an important feature for a chat interface, as it is intuitive and similar to face-to-face conversation where people discuss issues following a sequential order. In this paper, we introduce a new message ordering chat feature that addresses the problem of logical ordering while keeping the temporal order of the chat. The trade offs of the new feature are discussed.