I'm a curious creature, in part because my parents took me many places when I was growing up and encouraged me to ask questions. One of those outings is perhaps my earliest childhood memory. It was a visit to the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. The fair itself is a blur. What I do remember vividly was what seemed to be an amazing invention at the AT&T pavilion. It was a telephone that could see. I tried using Picturephone, but sadly the invention was touch and go. I could see only myself through the "Vu-self" option and not the woman using the other unit someplace else at the fair. Her image flickered away moments before my turn came. I was determined, however, to get another turn. Throughout high school, college, and a career in broadcast journalism, another turn never came.
The next opportunity to use a phone that could see finally arrived some thirty years later. However, the video phone was really not a phone at all. It was a personal computer with videophone capability. Not only could I communicate with clients and others through video face to face, I could collaborate on documents and share applications with people as well. These capabilities were particularly valuable in the communications consulting and training business, because I was working with many clients that are geographically dispersed. I realized the value of face to face contact, but I simply was unable to visit all of my clients each week. The phone filled the gaps, but these professional relationships required more. Personal videoconferencing worked in many situations.
As Impact Video Communication's clients began demanding new approaches to uniting dispersed workgroups and better ways of communicating and collaborating, I became more involved with the development of emerging communication and collaboration technologies. Increasingly, speaking engagements filled my calendar, and editors were asking me to write articles. I was forced to produce increasing amounts of material to fulfill these obligations. That's why I turned to the Internet. I posted a request in a telecommunications newsgroup. The request was for users of desktop videoconferencing to relate their experiences. One of the responses came from publisher Marjan Bace. "Do you think a book would be doable?" wrote Marjan. A virtual relationship evolved, and that relationship has produced this book.
Evan Rosen
San Francisco, California