FogCam, located at San Francisco State University, is known as the oldest active webcam broadcast, publishing a new image every 20-60 seconds since September 30, 1994. Fog-Bank, established by Justin Earl to archive the images:
- Uses four image capturers across three separate networks.
- One capturer runs on a server, one on a home computer, and two on Cloudflare.
The archive contains more than 169,000 images spanning 377 days.ose
Why it matters
This archive makes it possible to study retrospectively a live image stream from early internet culture rather than merely viewing it in real time. Collecting the images through multiple capturers across different networks shows that efforts are being made to maintain the record without relying on a single computer or connection. In this respect, the project is significant for researchers and internet historians interested in preserving visual material from the period when webcams began documenting everyday life online. However, the fact that the archive covers a 377-day period leaves open the question of how consistently FogCam’s long broadcast history could be preserved; the scope and continuity of the existing records, as well as how they will be kept accessible in the future, stand out as issues requiring further assessment.