The Story
Webcams: Can You See Me Now?
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, its time for The
(insert your name here) Show!
With a webcam, so the legend goes, you can actually feature yourself on camera. Or, alternately, you could pursue any sort of amateur fame, thanks to the almighty linking power of the Internet, a lens, and the voyeuristic habits of the human race.
The web camera lets you interact with someone as far away as Russia or as close as the floor below you. If you’re lucky enough to have a fast connection at home or would rather make use of the cable one provided by the College, all you need is a simple program like AOL Instant Messenger and another webcam user to have the closest thing to a real conversation over a wire- at least until holograms become more than just special effects in Star Wars.
Webcams can be a sure way to communicate with faraway family, but what about those beyond the grave? Many students have heard of the eerie stories that surround different areas of the campus; legends about the ghostly Indian boy who runs late at night in the Sunken Gardens or the apparitions of former professors roaming the Wren Building. But beyond experiencing these phantoms yourself there’s no way to prove their existence as anything more than an old yarn. Or is there?
A library in Indiana with a history of strange appearances by a “lady in grey” decided to simultaneously investigate and publicize their visitor by installing webcams in several locations for the exploratory pleasure of anyone on the web. Alert viewers have been said to find “evidence” of the spirit, but you can decide for yourself here. Who knows- with the growing popularity of these specter-cams, maybe it won’t be long before one comes to a sunken garden near you.
I began my own adventures into the world of webcams when I received a Compaq USB Notebook Webcam for Christmas. My uncle, one of the computer experts in my family, thought that it would be a good way to keep in touch while my sister and I were at school. His family already had one, but he gave one to my parents as well so we could talk to them too. Once they are all networked properly, all we will need is some fried chicken in order to stage our own virtual family reunion.
Now, considering that I had little to no knowledge about webcams, much less those designed for laptops, my immediate reaction was something like “Uh…how are you supposed to take pictures if the cord won’t even wrap around the front of the computer to focus on anything?” Thankfully, after looking a little closer at the back of the casing I realized that what I had originally thought to be a flaw was actually a pretty nifty innovation- the “solid” cable connecting the computer to the camera is actually a bendy snake arm that lets the user finagle the lens to any position imaginable.
The programs that came with the camera were painless to install and within about ten minutes, success! A live, slightly grainy video of me typing away was streaming onto my laptop. Disappointingly, I was not able to get the automatic video emails to work, which I assume has to do with the fact that I use a web email client and not a program like Microsoft Outlook. Sending clips is so easy that this isn’t much of an irritation, though- just a click on the “Record”, and then “Stop” at the end of your cinematic short, and then all that’s left to do is to save the file and send it through a direct connection over AIM or as an email attachment.
Webcams, like the Compaq Notebook version, run in the 30-60 dollar range, with the sharper, stationary cameras, which can sit on the desk or clip to a monitor, running around $100.
If you are looking for a more personal way to stay in touch with loved ones or interested in getting a start on the filming of your biopic, a webcam is a reasonable investment. If you just think they are interesting and do not have any real reason for buying one, then I recommend that you ask friends if they have them before dropping your birthday cash because there is not much use in having a webcam if you don't know anyone else that has one, unless you plan on just putting yours online for all to see.
Whichever way you go, webcams are a lot of fun, and their adaptability to most any situation imaginable ensures that they will be around in some incarnation for a long time. Besides, it seems everyone wants a chance at their fifteen minutes of fame. Even ghosts.