Webcams give Eureka worldwide audience

In 2008, we're the ones doing the watching.

Becky Smallwood of Zarks Fine Design Gallery at 67 Spring St. said a couple came in recently from Chicago to see the webcam in the gallery's window. It shows a view of Spring Street at the bend around Pendergas Corner.

"They said they watched our webcam all the time," Smallwood said. "At home, at work, everywhere. They wanted to see the camera itself, so I pointed it out up there in the window and they took pictures of it. We made a little sign for them to hold saying "Hello Chicago" so they could be seen back home. We thought they were a little odd, actually, but they were very happy to be here."

Johnny Apple-cam

The Zarks webcam is one of three put in place by Eric Schabacker of Winterwood Music Group. A second webcam peers down north onto Spring Street toward the Basin Park Hotel, and a third shows Beaver Lake near Schabacker's home.

A fourth camera is planned for downtown at an as-yet-undisclosed location.

Schabacker said, of his project, "I do it because I'm a geek, because I enjoy it. It's not a money thing. I don't want to prostitute it that way."

Schabacker said the webcams, which have been in place for about six months, are generating "a fair amount" of traffic.

"The site was visited 3,793 times in October," Schabacker said. "Beau Satori told me he appreciated being able to keep an eye on his shop from the Zarks webcam, and lots of people enjoy watching the parades via the webcams."

Schabacker said his Web site received an award recently from Webcam.com, a world wide Internet webcam directory, for being among its top 10 sites.

"The CAPC was generous enough to put a link to the site on its main page at www.eurekasprings.org,\" Schabacker said, adding the Greater Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce lists him as well.

"The site also pays attention to Eureka's 'other' artists, its local musicians," Schabacker said. "Our painters, sculptors and other artists get a lot of press, but I felt our musicians needed more exposure. An awful lot of people have come to the site because of the musicians featured there, which is kind of funny."

The Basin Park Hotel also maintains a webcam which transmits images of downtown from its balcony every five minutes.

Baby Jesus-cam

Eureka's best know webcam -- although not one viewable by the public -- is doubtless the one installed in Basin Spring Park in 2005 to help prevent theft of the baby Jesus figure in the manger scene erected in the Basin Spring Park bandshell by the Beta Sigma Phi sorority, which has sponsored the display every year since 1950.

The sorority paid for the installation of a security camera that year.

The baby Jesus was most famously stolen in 2006 by resident grandmother Virginia Voiers, 70, as a prank.

Although the stolen savior was immediately returned to its nest by vigilant police, Voiers spent a Friday afternoon in jail in March 2007 for contempt of court for failing to comply with the terms of a settlement reached on Dec. 8 of that year for her prank.

Webcam surveillance of the band shell from police headquarters was largely responsible for the return of the blessed infant doll.

What's a webcam?

Webcams are video capturing devices connected to computers or computer networks. They are well-known for their small size, low manufacturing costs and flexible applications.

Although the webcams installed by Schabacker cost around $1,000 each, they can be purchased at Wal-Mart and elsewhere for as little as $17.

The first webcam, called the CoffeeCam, started in 1991, was pointed at the Trojan room coffee pot in the computer science department of Cambridge University.

The oldest webcam, as the technology came to be known, still operating is FogCam at San Francisco State University, which has been running continuously since 1994.

One of the most widely reported-on webcam sites was JenniCam, started in 1996, which allowed Internet users to constantly observe the life of its namesake, 19-year old Jennifer Kaye Ringley.

Ringley's innovation was simply to allow others to view her daily activities, 24/7. This was a new use of Internet technology in 1996 and spawned many imitators.

Webcams pro and con

Webcams like the ones in Eureka have multiple positive applications. They allow potential tourists to see the area, as well as linking those unable to be here to the area.

Video chatting is another positive use of the webcam, since it allows cheap real-time communication from anywhere in the world.

Many people even use webcams to keep an eye on their pets at home.

The on-line Web site YouTube allows anyone with webcam technology access to the world for relatively little cost.

The downside

Internet privacy is the biggest concern of webcams. Children and teens under the legal age of consent have easy access to webcam technology.

Adult webcam-related material is a large part of the webcam-related sites on the Internet and can be easily Googled lacking parental control.

Rebecca Jeschke, Media Coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation -- an international non-profit advocacy and legal organization dedicated to preserving the right to freedom of speech in the context of today's digital age -- said she was not aware of any litigation having resulted from public webcam use like the ones here.

In the meantime, Eureka Springs gains a whole new worldwide audience as webcam enthusiasts discover it through this cheap, easy to use technology.

In the case of webcams like the ones in Eureka, webcam advocates argue there is no privacy in public places.

Now that all the world's a stage, Eurekans may, or may not, want to refrain from dangling their digits near bodily orifaces while strolling through downtown or sitting on the Group W bench.

Eureka Springs Webcams:

* Pendergrass Corner on Spring St.:

www.eurekaspringswebcam.com

* Basin Spring Park area:

www.eurekaspringswebcam.com

* Spring Street:

www.reserveeureka.com/webcam.htm

* Beaver Lake:

www.eurekaspringswebcam.com