Tom Biebrach has adapted my weather and climate task using webcams, he has produced a Google map with links to different webcams. The task is accompanied by a worksheet. Nice work.

Thanks to Paul Day who has sent me a webcam wall (138 k.b.), particularly like the use of timezones on this one.

Thanks to Helen, who has directed me to Camstreams , particularly like the Loch Ness camera. Helen has also sent me an example of a web-cam wall (PPT 139kb) she has produced.

In a previous post I discussed how people may integrate static, but periodically updated webcams into their blogs using Google Gadgets.

Many geography educators now have blogs, where they could potentially integrate live-streaming Windows Media web-cams and set an associated task. 

Copyright issue.

Embedding the webcams into your blogs removes the possibility of students viewing inappropriate advertisements or being forwarded to adult content. The video though is copyrighted, which poses a problem, but I believe the safety of students in this case is more important. I’m happy to remove this post at request.

The Method.

The following technique works in Blogger. Wordpress users need to first disable their rich text editor, this can be found under users, your profile, then uncheck the box.

In order to embed the Windows Media live-streaming webcams, you need to find the location URL, as explained in the ‘Webcam Wall’ process.

When writing your post you need to choose HTML, then paste the following code

<object id=”MediaPlayer” width=320 height=286 classid=”CLSID:22D6f312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95″ standby=”Loading Windows Media Player components…” type=”application/x-oleobject” codebase=

“http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/mplayer/en/nsmp2inf.cab#Version

=6,4,7,1112″>

<param name=”filename” value=

“URL location here“>
<param name=”Showcontrols” value=”True”>
<param name=”autoStart” value=”True”>

<embed type=”application/x-mplayer2″ src=

“URL location here” name=”MediaPlayer” width=320 height=240></embed>

</object>

You need to delete the the ‘URL location here’ highlighted in red and paste your chosen one.  Save and view post to see if this has worked, you may have to allow time for the video to buffer.

Repeat the process to embed additional webcams.

Any thoughts?

A ‘web-cam wall’ is a selection of live-streaming web-cams embedded into a PowerPoint slide. An example can be downloaded here (PPT 103kb).

Building a web-cam wall.

The web-cam wall only works with live-streaming web-cams that are embedded Windows Media Players.

The following instructions are based on a user using PowerPoint 2003. It’s easier than it looks!

Firstly open PowerPoint, choose insert, object

In the dialogue box, scroll down and highlight Windows Media Player, click ok.

A Window Media Player will now appear in the PowerPoint. You now need to find live-streaming Windows Media web-cams.

When you have found a suitable web-cam, right click on the web-cam image and choose properties.

Copy the URL location that appears in the properties box.

Return to your PowerPoint, right click on the Windows Media Player and choose properties.

In the dialogue box that appears, paste your URL in the URL box. After this, you can click the red cross to close the menu.

View show to see if the URL is correct, you may have to wait for the feed to buffer.

To complete the process, repeat the previous steps.

In theory, you can have as many webcams as your connection can support. Background is up to you!

Top-Tip.

Alternatively, copying your first Windows Media Player, pasting and then just changing the URL in properties, when you find a new web-cam is much more time efficient.

The issues.

• Do older version of PowerPoint allow this type of resource? (Let me know.)
• Will your network allow access?To avoid wasting your time, try it with one webcam.
• The streaming of the web-cams will depend on the speed of your Internet connection.
• There is a small risk that some inappropriate action or behaviour may occur in front of the camera, try to use webcams that show a large scale, rather than focused on a small area.

Potential uses.

• The ability of adding one live-streaming web-cam to a PowerPoint may enhance a piece of work based on place, and means the teacher doesn’t have to break their ‘flow’ to access a website.
• Illustrating different seasons.
• Illustrating different time zones.
• Discussing differences and similarities between ‘places’.
• To consider the environmental quality of different ‘places’.
• ‘Six places, one time’, I like the idea of a bit of creative writing here.
• As part of a decision-making exercise, where would you like to be? What evidence from the webcams do you have? What evidence don’t you have? I like the idea of devising an exercise where students choose the best place to surf in the world, depending on the conditions. I’ll need Noel’s and Tom’s help for this. Where do we go on holiday? This may add another dimension.
• Odd one out?

Any others?

Alan has just started People as Consumers on the Pilot course, he has talked about Consumer Landscapes, the Earthcam Webcam Network has a range of good live webcams that could provide a simple introduction to this topic. How about viewing two separate locations and getting students to discuss the advertisements and landscape features that are similar or dissimilar in both locations?

A quick viewing of the New York cams provided these examples

TGI Fridays, Kodak, Coca-Cola, HSBC, Swatch, Mc Donalds

Obviously all these companies are Multi-Nationals/Trans-National Corporations, but we can also discuss the use of advertisements and how they dominant space, and the reason for this, the traffic volume, the flow/number of people and the environmental quality of the area.

There is also an opportunity to show the globalisation of shopping here, by comparing the landscape with one in another country, it could also be used to tackle stereotypes, by comparing a Consumer Landscape in an LEDC country.

One of my favourite live-streaming webcams is this High Street in Amsterdam, this is great because you can control the cam, effectively you can follow people, very Big Brother .  But a great discussion of Consumer Landscapes can be had here, pedestrianisation, use of heritage, shop frontages, trams, types of companies represented, which online thinking has sorted a Year 8 lesson as well.

Hugh has added two new useful pages of webcams on the Wycombe High School site.

The first mirrors a task that I produced, and is hosted on the SLN site ( scroll down the page.), a couple of years ago, Live Weather Links .

Also on the SLN site is another task I produced, asking students to find live cam pictures of places they would like to visit in the world, map them and write explanations. Looks a bit old hat now, but could do with a revisiting.

The second is a page relating to Time zones, it links nicely with a study of Longitude and Latitude.

Great work.

I like this idea, involving webcams and Google Earth by Noel Jenkins.