From Analog to Digital, from the Office to the Living Room: Why I Happily Worked in a Media Space but Don't Live in One

CSCW researchers have long investigated the reasons for the failure of traditional videoconferencing (e.g. [4]) and proposed alternative uses of video for mediated communication. Media Spaces [2], in particular, showed the value of persistent connections to support activities ranging from casual awareness and informal talks to focused collaboration. This research somehow culminated in 1997 with the book Video-mediated communication edited by Finn, Sellen and Wilbur [5]. Strangely, however, the interest for innovative uses of video and Media Spaces dropped off just as digital media and fast large area networks were becoming ubiquitous. As partly prophesied by Karam [10], the information superhighways killed most of the existing projects, based on analog media, like the US interstate system killed Route 66: