The simplest approach I've seen to address this is to embed an IRC chat widget on the project website. Now there's no software to install or configure in order

The simplest approach I've seen to address this is to embed an IRC chat widget on the project website. Now there's no software to install or configure in order to chat with project members. This doesn't address some of the cultural expectations in IRC (don't ask to ask, use something like pastebin, stick around because it may take several hours for someone to answer you) but it at least gets over the initial hurdle.