Libby Young takes a look at what’s on the webcams
Not just a source of boundless data, the Internet can also provide a window looking onto the far reaches of the globe. This is possible through webcams – cameras hooked up to Internet-connected computers that provide live, or nearly live, images.
The first and most famous webcam showed a coffee pot in Cambridge University’s computer lab. The Trojan coffee pot, as it was known, served the entire seven-storey lab, so researchers trained a camera on it to save wasted journeys to an empty pot. Until it finally went offline last month, the coffee pot enjoyed cult status, attracting 2,4-million viewers.
Now there are thousands of webcams worldwide trained on more interesting subjects, from bears catching salmon to the rumblings of volcanoes. Discovery Online, with dozens of cams, is a good place to start this voyeuristic online adventure. The shark cam looks into the Giant Ocean Tank at the New England Aquarium – home to eels, sharks, barracuda, stingrays and angelfish – while the Las Vegas wedding cam shows wedding ceremonies performed at the Little White Chapel on the Las Vegas Strip.
http://www.discovery.com/cams/cams.html
National Geographic has a WildCam capturing the annual gathering of brown bears at Alaska’s McNeil Falls as they dine on fresh salmon. (For live action of this amazing picnic, you’ll have to wait until the bears come out of hibernation.)
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/webcams/index.html
Keep an eye on volcanoes around the world with Volcano World’s links to various webcams, including ones at Mt Fuji and Mt Iwate in Japan, and Mauna Loa in Hawaii.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/bearcam/
Examine some of Rome’s ancient ruins with Capitolium’s WebView, which lets you turn cameras and zoom in to see some finer detail.
http://www.capitolium.org/eng/virtuale/webview.htm
Or pay a virtual visit to the San Diego Zoo, where you can see the giant panda cub,
Hua Mei.
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/special/pandas/pandacam/index.html
AfriCam is a homegrown alternative with cameras providing a glimpse of the African bush. You can watch all the activity at waterholes of various game resources around South Africa, sometimes catching a glimpse of an elephant, a spotted hyena or some smaller bushveld inhabitants like the white-faced owl.
http://www.africam.co.za /
For a colossal listing of webcams, visit WebCam Central:
http://www.camcentral.com /
Remember that because the cameras provide either live footage, or new images every 10 to 15 seconds, you have to take time zones and seasons into account. For example, if it’s nighttime in San Diego, you’re no going to get a good view of the pandas.
— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, Johannesburg, April 2001.