Webcams allow live views

Smile, Norwich students: You may be on camera.

The webcams on Jackman and Hawkins halls provide many uses to current students and their families as well as prospective students, according to the senior web editor at Norwich.

"We put them up because they are an excellent way for folks to get a feel for daily life at Norwich," said Eric Hobart, web communications editor at Norwich University. "They offer prospective students an opportunity to see what our campus looks like, and they offer the parents of current students an opportunity to see what is going on, on campus"

There are two webcams on campus, "one on top of Hawkins Hall and faces east, while the other one is on top of Jackman Hall up near the parapet and faces south.

"The Jackman Hall webcam offers four views; one centered on Guard Hall, one of the upper parade ground, a zoom view of the upper parade ground, the last view is of Dewey Hall," Hobart said. "There are three views offered from the Hawkins Hall webcam, one of the Wise Campus Center, one on White Chapel, and the third is another close up we named ‘Hi folks'."

The‘Hi folks' view is new. "Our thinking was partially for rooks during that period of separation, a lot of parents are very concerned. They just want to know that their kids are OK, so even though they may not be able to communicate with their rooks for a period of time there's a chance they might see them," Hobart said.

"Even for all students it gives you an opportunity if you want to arrange with someone to say hi to friends, family or whatever you can tell them to go to the Hawkins Hall webcam at a certain time and toggle on the hi folks and you can carry on a conversation on a cell phone while they are looking at you," Hobart said.

The cameras are positionedso "you can't look in dorm windows or in to classroom windows, most of the camera angles people are so small you can't identify individuals," Hobart said.

"The webcams run on java programming.  The folks in IT were good enough to set everything up as far as the physical connection. The folks from facilities operations pitched in and helped us get the cameras mounted," Hobart said.

"They are connected with hard-line to the network and they cannot be viewed on an iPhone because iPhones don't support Java," Hobart said.

As for adding more cameras, "We have discussed the possibility putting one on South Hall since that is a view of campus that wasn't available before. But we haven't gotten anything concrete in the works right now," Hobart said.  "The idea is to look across campus length wise. Though we have not been up there, to look for an exact location to put a webcam."

"The webcams are popular because we have gotten very good analytics, is become one of our 10 most popular destinations on norwich.edu," Hobart said.

"The webcams can be viewed all year long even though the view is better during the day," Hobart said.  A link to the webcams can be found on the Norwich website, www.norwich.edu.