Topic 150

Social effects of the widespread use of tele-conferencing and video-conferencing by Romeo Wu


A videoconference is a set of interactive telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously. It has also been called visual collaboration and is a type of groupware. It differs from videophone in that it is designed to serve a conference rather than individuals.

Now day’s people are starting to use more and more video conference as a tool for entertaining, business, or just normal chat. Currently there are people who use video conference as a sexual entertainment who show off there body for money and I personally think it is wrong video conference shouldn’t be use like phone sex it is pure disgusting. Even though some people use it for the wrong purpose I still have to admit it is a very useful tool to chat and see your long distance friends.

Simple analog videoconferences could be established as early as the invention of the television. Such videoconferencing systems consisted of two closed-circuit television systems connected via cable. During the first manned space flights, NASA used two radiofrequency links, one in each direction. TV channels routinely use this kind of videoconferencing when reporting from distant locations, for instance. Then mobile links to satellites using special trucks became rather common.

Videoconferencing first demonstrated in could not be used for more mundane applications, such as telemedicine, distance education, business meetings, and so on, particularly in long-distance applications. Attempts at using normal telephony networks to transmit slow-scan video, such as the first systems developed by AT&T, failed mostly due to the poor picture quality and the lack of efficient video compression techniques. The greater 1 MHz bandwidth and 6 MBPS bit rate of Picture phone in the 1970s also did not cause the service to prosper.

It was only in the 1980s that digital telephony transmission networks became possible, such as ISDN, assuring a minimum bit rate for compressed video and audio transmission. The first dedicated systems, such as those manufactured by pioneering VTC firms, like PictureTel, started to appear in the market as ISDN networks were expanding throughout the world. Video teleconference systems throughout the 1990's rapidly evolved from highly expensive proprietary equipment, software and network requirements to standards based technology that is readily available to the general public at a reasonable cost.

Finally, in the 1990s, IP (Internet Protocol) based videoconferencing became possible and more efficient video compression technologies were developed, permitting desktop, or personal computer (PC)-based videoconferencing. In 1992 CU-SeeMe was developed at Cornell by Tim Dorcey et al. VTC arrived to the masses and free services, web plugging and software, such as NetMeeting, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Skype and others brought cheap, albeit low-quality, VTC.