49. Broadcasting a Live Webcam

I've always felt that BBFGs warranted a lot of extra care precisely because the technique is asynchronous: participants log on when it is convenient to them and basically answer a self-administered open-ended questionnaire.

I've always felt that anything that we as moderators might do to dispel any feeling that participants are "alone", would be a good thing. That involves things like very frequent logons on the part of the moderator, especially on the first day of a bulletin board.

I've also wondered whether having a constantly updated picture of me working at my computer on the whiteboard -- just like a traffic cam -- might help.

It would actually be quite simple to do.

You need a webcam, obviously, and software to publish the images or video. I've selected Willing Webcam for this example, because it allows you quite a bit of control, and the price isn't bad. ($US49.00).

Here's a screen grab of what it might look like to a BBFG participant, with the picture updated at the rate you choose.


You install the webcam, install the software, and publish the stream of JPEGs to a page on your website via FTP. You then add that page to the BBFG as a whiteboard.

Voila. A little bit of personalization provided and perhaps the sense that there is someone there that cares about them.


But might they find it's a bit too Big-Brother-ish? If anyone tests this, please let me know the results.