Before the Webcam

In normal human history we cherish the relics of the past. First edition books are worth thousands of dollars, famous art can be worth millions, and tools from years passed are placed in museums. When it comes to cyber history, we have less respect for what came before. Once technology becomes obsolete we discard it and forget about it. Who still has there very first computer? Or floppy disks? You don’t because our computers and storage systems have gotten much better. I bet you haven’t thought about floppy disks in years until I mentioned them. You probably haven’t thought about what life was like before webcams came along, either.

Webcams were first invented in 1991. They weren’t the sleek cameras that now sit on top, or are inside, of our computers. They were basically video cameras. Big, bulky, and cumbersome. The only difference between them and other video cameras is that webcams could link up to the internet. Interestingly, the first webcam broadcast was of a coffee pot in the University of Cambridge. People would check to see if there was any coffee left so they wouldn’t have to make a pointless trip. The image was in black and white and was blurry. It would be a long time, 10 years give or take, before webcams would become common household accessories.

So what did we do before webcams became so accessible and affordable? Well, the first breakout was obviously email. Those short messages between people made the world a much smaller place. No more phone calls with a hundred digits, no more outrageous international phone bills, no more stammered out messages on the answering machine (hey! Remember answering machines) now you could sent any amount of information where ever you wanted (as long as the other person had an email address) for free. It was revolutionary at the time, but the girdle was also revolutionary in its time. We still send emails, but it’s hardly the best way to stay in contact with someone.

Even with emails, there was still a void. People wanted to have conversation that happened in real time, not over a half an hour or however long it would take a person to respond. Enter chat rooms. Not only could you have a conversation, you could have a conversation with strangers. They were kind of like the first generation 6rounds, if you will. They ranged in topic from personal, to specific, to goofy, to down right weird or creepy. I was never a big fan of chat rooms myself. A bunch of disembodied people have 18 separate conversations got old pretty quickly. But they were quite popular in their time, and are still around today.

So you had slow interactions with our friends and quick interactions with strangers. What was next? Slow interactions with strangers? That would’ve been terrible. Instead we got quick interactions with our friends. Namely, instant messaging. Now, I’m not sure if ICQ was the first instant messenger, but it is the one I remember the most vividly from when I was younger. It seemed like every single one of my friends, possibly everyone in my entire school, had ICQ. All anyone ever talked about was what they talked about on ICQ. I wasn’t allowed to have it, which remains a tragic childhood memory. Basically, my computer sucked and it was very likely downloading the ICQ application would blow it up. Eventually my father opted for a better computer, and I could have my instant messaging. By that point MSN instant messaging had became popular, while ICQ started to become obsolete. Today I still use my MSN. It’s a good way to talk to people you haven’t seen in a while, or get to know people you’ve met over a dating site.

At long last we finally got the webcam in the early 2000’s. Sure, they were a little bulky, and the picture quality wasn’t the best, but we could finally videophone people. Our dreams of a videophone had finally come true, just in a way no one ever expected. As cyber technology evolves at an incredible rate, it’s interesting to think what huge advancement will come next and what we’ll leave in the dust of time.