Webcam [Paperback]

The use of webcam, especially through Skype, has recently become established as one more standard media technology, but so far there has been no attempt to assess its fundamental nature and consequences. Yet webcam has profound implications for many facets of human life, from self-consciousness and intimacy to the sustaining of long-distance relationships and the place of the visual within social communications.

Based on research in London and Trinidad, this book shows how 'always-on' webcam is becoming an entirely different phenomenon from the initial use of webcam as a videophone. Webcam is examined within the framework of 'polymedia' - that is, the new environments created by the simultaneous presence of a multiplicity of communication technologies - and used to exemplify a theory of attainment that accepts media technologies as aspects of, rather than detracting from, our basic humanity.

Acknowledgements vi

1 Conclusion: A Theory of Attainment 1

2 Self-Consciousness 24

3 Intimacy 48

4 The Sense of Place 82

5 Maintaining Relationships 110

6 Polymedia 135

7 Visibility 162

References 192

Index 201

''Some of the most interesting uses of new technologies silently slip into our consciousness and become deeply integrated with our everyday lives. Miller and Sinanan help us to understand how our everyday existence is affected by online video conversations in ways that are unexpected and intriguing. Long anticipated by science fiction, video conversation looks much less like a simple update to the phone call we might have expected, and much more varied.''
Alexander Halavais, Arizona State University

'My grandmother used to shout into the phone to make sure she was heard across the country. Now, grandmothers andlc+