Comment Articles

Life saving video conferencing

Guy Kewney AnchorDesk

Published: 31 Jul 2001 15:57 BST

The subject is travel. Right now, Web travel companies are booming. Lots of things that were "just dot-com" shares a year ago, are now seen as respectable businesses, with the Internet component seen as not very important.

In particular, Expedia shares are getting more and more expensive, as people take advantage of the "instant, accurate" nature of the special offers available.

But travel doesn't just involve sunshine trips in aircraft, and the "excitement" of terrorist attacks on aircraft. It involves things like the daily commute, trips to the superstore, and weekends by the seaside.

In the UK, right now, the bulk of the local tourist industry is in eclipse. People can't get to large areas of the country side, because of the fear they will spread the Foot and Mouth animal virus. Almost nobody is afraid of catching the virus themselves (well, apart from a few daft Americans!).

That could change. It's far-fetched, science fiction stuff, perhaps, but the fact is that several deadly diseases which used to be treatable with antibiotics, are now resistant to nearly all such drugs.

Bio-technology may find new treatments. The laws of evolution suggest that eventually, the lethal versions of these bugs will give way to versions which leave their hosts alive... but in the mean time, there is a real chance that going out of doors and meeting people, will turn from a pleasant treat, into a life-threatening risk.

Today, nobody uses video conferencing. Well, virtually nobody. The stupidity of the video camera is a big reason; if you move your head, the camera can't follow you. The slowness of the electronic links is another; over a modem, the best you can expect is to see a postage-stamp size image which moves like a loose-locked jigsaw puzzle -- in bits.

But this time next year, Internet worms permitting, the number of people with high-speed video-ready connections will be getting significant -- maybe 5% of the population, maybe a lot more. And within two years, the software will be much, much cleverer.