Jennifer Ringley
Encyclopedia
Jennifer Kaye Ringley is an Internet personality
and former lifecaster
. She is known for creating the popular website JenniCam.
Previously, live webcams transmitted static shots from cameras aimed through windows or at coffee pots
. Ringley's innovation was simply to allow others to view her daily activities.
In June 2008, CNET hailed JenniCam as one of the greatest defunct websites in history.
ist, Ringley viewed her site as a straight-forward document of her life. She did not wish to filter the events that were shown on her camera, so sometimes she was shown nude
or engaging in sexual behavior, including sexual intercourse and masturbation
. This was a new use of Internet technology in 1996 and viewers were stimulated both for its sociological implications and for sexual arousal. The JenniCam web site coincided with a rise in surveillance as a feature of popular culture, particularly reality television programs such as Big Brother
, and as a feature of contemporary art and new media art.
"In Web sites like JenniCAM, in which a young woman installed Web cameras in her home to expose her everyday actions to online viewers...surveillance became a source of voyeuristic and exhibitionistic excitement... Institutional surveillance and the invasion of privacy have been widely explored by New Media artists."
Ringley's desire to maintain the purity of the cam-eye view of her life eventually created the need to establish that she was within her rights as an adult to broadcast such information, in the legal sense, and that it was not harmful to other adults. Unlike later for-profit webcam services, Ringley did not spend her day displaying her naked body, and she spent much more time discussing her romantic life than she did her sex life. Ringley maintained her webcam site for seven years.
Sources stated that JenniCam received over 100 million visitors weekly. Nate Lanxon of CNET
said "remember this is 1996 and the Web as we know it now had barely lost its virginity, let alone given birth to the God-child we know as the modern Internet."
in Carlisle, Pennsylvania
, the 19-year-old Ringley installed a webcam in her college
dorm room, and provided images from that cam on a webpage The webpage would automatically refresh every three minutes with the most recent picture from the camera. Anyone with Internet access could observe the often mundane events of Ringley's life. JenniCam was one of the first web sites that continuously and voluntarily surveyed a private life. Her first webcam contained only black-and-white images of her in the dorm room.
At times during the first couple of years of JenniCam, Ringley performed stripteases for the webcam. This continued until an incident occurred wherein she received an email demanding that she do a "show." After she refused, JenniCam was hacked
, and Ringley received death threats. The hackers turned out to be teen pranksters, but Ringley did no more stripteases after that.
Initially, the camera tended to be turned off during especially private moments, but eventually this custom was abandoned, and images were captured of Ringley engaging in sex.
In May 1997 Ringley graduated from Dickinson with a Bachelor of Arts
in Economics.
in 1998, she added webcams to cover the additional living space (four webcams captured images of her life). She began charging for access to her site, allowing both paid and free access with the paid access updating the images more frequently than the free access. She added more pages to her website that included pictures of her cats and ferrets. Her site was doing well as she stayed home and claimed her profession to be a "web designer" for her site.
As Ringley attracted a following both on and off the Internet, more than 100 media outlets from The Wall Street Journal
to Modern Ferret ran features. Ringley owned several ferret
s and Modern Ferret featured Jenni and one of her pets on the front cover. As an actress, she was cast in "Rear Windows '98," a 1998 episode of the TV series Diagnosis Murder
, portraying Joannecam, a fictionalized version of herself. She also hosted her own Internet talk show on The Sync
, an early webcasting network based in Laurel, Maryland
.
Ringley's standard of living improved with a new larger apartment, expensive furniture and several trips to Amsterdam
with her accountant, which she claimed were business trips. She also claimed that the experience improved her self image and self body image. Ringley began to take trips to visit other cam girls, including Ana Voog
of Anacam.com.
At the height of her popularity, an estimated three to four million people watched JenniCam.org daily. She eventually purchased the domain jennicam.com as well. She appeared July 31, 1998 as a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman. At the end of the interview, and even after having been corrected once, Letterman plugged the site as Jennicam.net instead of the correct Jennicam.com (Ringley owned both Jennicam.com and Jennicam.org). People visiting the previously non-existent Jennicam.net found a pornographic site with the greeting, "Thanks Dave".
She also appeared on The Today Show, and World News Tonight With Peter Jennings.
, she documented the boxing of her possessions with free live streaming and full audio. Ringley received some criticism from fans when she became involved with Dex, a man who was the fiance of a fellow webcammer and friend who helped her with her move to California.
She shut her site down on December 31, 2003, citing PayPal
's new anti-nudity policy.
Ringley worked for a web developer after a brief stint as a case worker for a social services agency in Sacramento. Out of the public eye, she stated, "I really am enjoying my privacy now. I don't have a web page; I don't have a MySpace
page. It's a completely different feeling, and I think I'm enjoying it."
Internet celebrity
An Internet celebrity, cyberstar or online celebrity is someone who has become famous by means of the Internet. Such fame is based less upon raw numbers, as with traditional media...
and former lifecaster
Lifecasting (video stream)
Lifecasting is a continual broadcast of events in a person's life through digital media. Typically, lifecasting is transmitted through the medium of the Internet and can involve wearable technology...
. She is known for creating the popular website JenniCam.
Previously, live webcams transmitted static shots from cameras aimed through windows or at coffee pots
Trojan Room coffee pot
The Trojan Room coffee pot was the inspiration for the world's first webcam. The coffee pot was located in the so-called Trojan Room within the old Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge...
. Ringley's innovation was simply to allow others to view her daily activities.
In June 2008, CNET hailed JenniCam as one of the greatest defunct websites in history.
JenniCam
Regarded by some as a conceptual artConceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
ist, Ringley viewed her site as a straight-forward document of her life. She did not wish to filter the events that were shown on her camera, so sometimes she was shown nude
Nudity
Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...
or engaging in sexual behavior, including sexual intercourse and masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
. This was a new use of Internet technology in 1996 and viewers were stimulated both for its sociological implications and for sexual arousal. The JenniCam web site coincided with a rise in surveillance as a feature of popular culture, particularly reality television programs such as Big Brother
Big Brother (TV series)
Big Brother is a television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are usually fewer than 15 participants. The housemates try to win a cash...
, and as a feature of contemporary art and new media art.
"In Web sites like JenniCAM, in which a young woman installed Web cameras in her home to expose her everyday actions to online viewers...surveillance became a source of voyeuristic and exhibitionistic excitement... Institutional surveillance and the invasion of privacy have been widely explored by New Media artists."
Ringley's desire to maintain the purity of the cam-eye view of her life eventually created the need to establish that she was within her rights as an adult to broadcast such information, in the legal sense, and that it was not harmful to other adults. Unlike later for-profit webcam services, Ringley did not spend her day displaying her naked body, and she spent much more time discussing her romantic life than she did her sex life. Ringley maintained her webcam site for seven years.
Sources stated that JenniCam received over 100 million visitors weekly. Nate Lanxon of CNET
CNET
CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
said "remember this is 1996 and the Web as we know it now had barely lost its virginity, let alone given birth to the God-child we know as the modern Internet."
Origins
In April 1996, during her junior year at Dickinson CollegeDickinson College
Dickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773, Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, making it the first college to be founded in the newly...
in Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle is a borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The name is traditionally pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2010 census, the borough...
, the 19-year-old Ringley installed a webcam in her college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
dorm room, and provided images from that cam on a webpage The webpage would automatically refresh every three minutes with the most recent picture from the camera. Anyone with Internet access could observe the often mundane events of Ringley's life. JenniCam was one of the first web sites that continuously and voluntarily surveyed a private life. Her first webcam contained only black-and-white images of her in the dorm room.
At times during the first couple of years of JenniCam, Ringley performed stripteases for the webcam. This continued until an incident occurred wherein she received an email demanding that she do a "show." After she refused, JenniCam was hacked
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
, and Ringley received death threats. The hackers turned out to be teen pranksters, but Ringley did no more stripteases after that.
Initially, the camera tended to be turned off during especially private moments, but eventually this custom was abandoned, and images were captured of Ringley engaging in sex.
In May 1997 Ringley graduated from Dickinson with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Economics.
Washington D.C.
When Ringley moved to Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in 1998, she added webcams to cover the additional living space (four webcams captured images of her life). She began charging for access to her site, allowing both paid and free access with the paid access updating the images more frequently than the free access. She added more pages to her website that included pictures of her cats and ferrets. Her site was doing well as she stayed home and claimed her profession to be a "web designer" for her site.
As Ringley attracted a following both on and off the Internet, more than 100 media outlets from The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
to Modern Ferret ran features. Ringley owned several ferret
Ferret
The ferret is a domesticated mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females. They typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur...
s and Modern Ferret featured Jenni and one of her pets on the front cover. As an actress, she was cast in "Rear Windows '98," a 1998 episode of the TV series Diagnosis Murder
Diagnosis Murder
Diagnosis: Murder is a mystery/medical/crime drama television series starring Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan, a medical doctor who solves crimes with the help of his son, a homicide detective played by his real-life son Barry Van Dyke. The series began as a spin-off of Jake and the Fatman...
, portraying Joannecam, a fictionalized version of herself. She also hosted her own Internet talk show on The Sync
The Sync
The Sync was an independently owned and operated webcasting company that pioneered the presentation of original and exclusive webcast entertainment content. Started by Tom Edwards and Carla Cole in 1997 and based in Laurel, Maryland, the company made history in 1998 by presenting Erica Jordan’s...
, an early webcasting network based in Laurel, Maryland
Laurel, Maryland
Laurel is a city in northern Prince George's County, Anne Arundel County, and Howard County, Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Incorporated in 1870, the city maintains a historic district including its Main Street...
.
Ringley's standard of living improved with a new larger apartment, expensive furniture and several trips to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
with her accountant, which she claimed were business trips. She also claimed that the experience improved her self image and self body image. Ringley began to take trips to visit other cam girls, including Ana Voog
Ana Voog
Ana Clara Voog is a musician, visual artist, performance artist and writer from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Voog is the former front woman of The Blue Up?, a pop rock band from the Minneapolis area...
of Anacam.com.
At the height of her popularity, an estimated three to four million people watched JenniCam.org daily. She eventually purchased the domain jennicam.com as well. She appeared July 31, 1998 as a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman. At the end of the interview, and even after having been corrected once, Letterman plugged the site as Jennicam.net instead of the correct Jennicam.com (Ringley owned both Jennicam.com and Jennicam.org). People visiting the previously non-existent Jennicam.net found a pornographic site with the greeting, "Thanks Dave".
She also appeared on The Today Show, and World News Tonight With Peter Jennings.
Sacramento
When Ringley moved to Sacramento, CaliforniaSacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, she documented the boxing of her possessions with free live streaming and full audio. Ringley received some criticism from fans when she became involved with Dex, a man who was the fiance of a fellow webcammer and friend who helped her with her move to California.
She shut her site down on December 31, 2003, citing PayPal
PayPal
PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....
's new anti-nudity policy.
Ringley worked for a web developer after a brief stint as a case worker for a social services agency in Sacramento. Out of the public eye, she stated, "I really am enjoying my privacy now. I don't have a web page; I don't have a MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page. It's a completely different feeling, and I think I'm enjoying it."
Further reading
- Feminist Cyberscapes: Mapping Gendered Academic Spaces, Blair K., Takayoshi P., College Composition and Communication, Vol. 52, part two, pages 302-305, ISBN 1-56750-438-8
- Jenni's Room: Exhibitionism and Solitude, Burgin, V., Critical Inquiry, 2000
- Gender and power in online communication, Herring, S.C., The Handbook of Language and Gender, 2003
- A camera with a view: JenniCAM, visual representation, and cyborg subjectivity, Jimroglou, K. M., INFORMATION COMMUNICATION AND SOCIETY, VOL 2; NUMB 4, pages 439-453, 1999
- tekst.no, Schwebs, Ture & Otnes, Hildegunn, p. 175. Oslo: Cappelen. ISBN 82-02-19673-6, 2001
- Design vs. Content: A Survey of Ten Popular Web Sites That Made Emotional Connections with the User, Vogler, D., Computers in Entertainment (CIE), 2005
- JenniCam's So-called Life Goes Live Washington Business Journal, p. 2, January 19, 1998.
- Archive.org for jennicam.org
Interviews
- Interview with Sam Esmail from esmail.com, where Jennifer reveals that she scored 1400 on the SATs (Internet Archive)
- This American Life - "Tales from the Net" - Episode 66 - This episode of This American LifeThis American LifeThis American Life is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by WBEZ and hosted by Ira Glass. It is distributed by Public Radio International on PRI affiliate stations and is also available as a free weekly podcast. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays,...
featured a conversation with Jennifer Ringley. The interview starts around minute 16.
External links
- JenniCam Archive
- Jennicam (Archive)
- Jennicam at boudoir.org (Archive)
- All 43 Episodes of JenniShow
- Behind The Scenes With Jennifer Ringley, 2007 segment of "Webjunk" on VH1VH1VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
features JenniCAM screenshots and recent interview