
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


When Stephen Wilhite, the creator of the .GIF image, died last month at the age of 74, millions on the Internet shared their favorite (and earliest-known) looping animations in honor of the influential computer scientist. But how did this highly compressed CompuServe image format from 1987 become the ubiquitous communication method bursting from all of our smartphone keyboards?
Nearly all the coverage of Wilhite's death links back to one interview from 2012. Fernando Alfonso, III, a reporter at The Daily Dot (fine publisher of this very podcast!) tracked down the reclusive Wilhite to discuss the legacy of the .GIF, and why it became so pivotal in the maturation of the Web. Alfonso (now a supervising editor at NPR) explains why .GIFs were invented, why they blossomed with artists of the early Web, how hard it was to make them in the early aughts, and whether we should expect the .GIF to survive the next 10 years.
Read Fernando's piece from 2012: https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/gif-history-steve-wilhite-olia-lialina-interview/
Follow Fernando: https://twitter.com/fernalfonso
Support 2G1P on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/2G1P
Join the 2G1P Discord community: http://discord.gg/2g1p
Join the 2G1P Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2girls1podcast/
Email us: [email protected]
Call the show and leave a message! (347) 871-6548
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
By Matt Silverman4.5
112112 ratings
When Stephen Wilhite, the creator of the .GIF image, died last month at the age of 74, millions on the Internet shared their favorite (and earliest-known) looping animations in honor of the influential computer scientist. But how did this highly compressed CompuServe image format from 1987 become the ubiquitous communication method bursting from all of our smartphone keyboards?
Nearly all the coverage of Wilhite's death links back to one interview from 2012. Fernando Alfonso, III, a reporter at The Daily Dot (fine publisher of this very podcast!) tracked down the reclusive Wilhite to discuss the legacy of the .GIF, and why it became so pivotal in the maturation of the Web. Alfonso (now a supervising editor at NPR) explains why .GIFs were invented, why they blossomed with artists of the early Web, how hard it was to make them in the early aughts, and whether we should expect the .GIF to survive the next 10 years.
Read Fernando's piece from 2012: https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/gif-history-steve-wilhite-olia-lialina-interview/
Follow Fernando: https://twitter.com/fernalfonso
Support 2G1P on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/2G1P
Join the 2G1P Discord community: http://discord.gg/2g1p
Join the 2G1P Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2girls1podcast/
Email us: [email protected]
Call the show and leave a message! (347) 871-6548
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

219 Listeners

1,110 Listeners

216 Listeners

69 Listeners

3,240 Listeners

7,193 Listeners

65 Listeners

42 Listeners

335 Listeners

396 Listeners

186 Listeners

463 Listeners

4,087 Listeners

774 Listeners