Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
More: Daily news, true crime, and more USA TODAY podcasts
Hey there, listeners. It’s Brett Molina. Welcome back to Talking Tech.
We recently lost a pioneer of the internet. Most importantly, a pioneer who helped create one of the most important ways for us to communicate on the web. Stephen Wilhite, the inventor of the GIF, passed away. He was 74 years old. He was a computer programmer at the time, working for CompuServe when he developed the GIF. Short for graphics interchange format. The New York Times interviewed him in 2013. They talk a little bit about how the GIF got started. Basically, CompuServe is looking for ways to display content, like color weather maps, in a time where internet was painfully slow. This is right around when dial-up was taking off. Then, of course, the image files were so big, so obviously it took a really long time for this stuff to load. Which is where the GIFs come in, because it’s something that’s very short, quick, and also it’s a light load. Which means it’s easy to upload download. This is Wilhite comes in, because he’s the one that developed this format to do that.
Fast forward 35 years later, and the GIF has become probably one of the most entertaining ways to communicate with people online. Whether you’re texting someone, whether you’re sending an email, whether you’re on a social media app like Twitter, Instagram, what have you. It’s been an incredible way to communicate with folks. Obviously Wilhite’s contribution is significant in terms of the way we talked to each other online. So much so, that in 2013 he was given the lifetime achievement honor from the Webby awards. This is the quote that they used.
“Despite developments in moving image and animation technology on the web, the GIF remains a staple among image formats used to spread news in information.” One small bone I’ll pick though with Stephen Wilhite. During this interview with the New York Times, he to talked about how he always pronounced GIF with a soft G. I always pronounce it as GIF with a hard G. Of course, he’s the inventor of the GIF, so who am I to step in here and say, “Hey, it should be pronounced like this.” But there’s still debate about it, how the right way to pronounce it. If you’re ever wondering though, now you know. The inventor of the GIF thinks it’s pronounced with a J, like the peanut butter. I respectfully disagree. But Hey, again, he invented it.
But again, rest in peace, Stephen Wilhite, and thank you for this incredible contribution to the internet.
Listeners, let’s hear from you. Do you have any comments, questions, show ideas? Any tech problems you want us to try to address? You can find me on Twitter @brettmolina23. Please don’t forget to subscribe and rate us, or leave a review on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher. Anywhere you get your podcasts. You’ve been listening to Talking Tech. We’ll be back tomorrow with another quick hit from the world of tech.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The inventor of the GIF has died: Talking Tech podcast
Leave a Reply