The oldest operational webcam in the world is still on duty San Francisco State University campus after 28 years.
What happened: FogCam was founded in 1994, long before the internet. It was developed by students at San Francisco State University Jeff Schwartz and Dan Wong as a class project.
The students named it “FogCam” because of the foggy vision it offered due to its placement in Burk Hall and the low image resolution – no more than 320 x 200 pixels. according to to the SF gate.
See also: Your iPhone can soon serve as a webcam
In August 2019, a notice on the FogCam website announced that it was closing forever after 25 years. Soon, a public outcry and the social media campaign #SaveTheFogCam, coupled with offers of international donations to keep the FogCam alive, turned the tables.
As FogCam gained worldwide attention, Schwarts signed an agreement with San Francisco State University to take on the project indefinitely.
The webcam is now under the purview of the Academic Technologies department at San Francisco State University, where Wong still works.
It is safely stowed on the second floor of the university campus and mounted on a flexible tripod.
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Photo: decency Dan Wong’s gallery.
