Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["Alan MacHett" <machett AT ibiblio.org>]

http://www.aaanet.org/press/an/0502Blum.htm
> Studying A New Form of Communication
> Susan D Blum
>
> Teaching an upper-division undergraduate class on linguistic anthro-
> pology, “Doing Things with Words,” at the University of Notre Dame,
> nothing got my students so excited...as the topic of Instant Messaging.

Some of us have discussed aspects of this now and again, the "bandwidth"
of various modes of communication.  I'd say the work is a tad skewed,
however, because it focuses on college students.  I'd be just as
interested to read how the full spectrum of users communicates via IM.

You can read the students' final paper here:
http://www.nd.edu/~sblum/InstantMessaging.pdf

-Alan