The Web Master
Dan-O-Cam allows students to take a look into professor Dan Smith's
office, although there's not much
By ERIKA LINDQUIST
World famous for his office Web cam, counseling professor Dan Smith doesn’t
mind being watched as he goes about his daily school business.
Smith put up his Web cam, titled Dan-O-Cam, in his office nine years ago
for anyone around the world to view. It’s been running almost 24
hours a day, seven days a week ever since.
The Web cam, looking like an eye attached to the window, fixes its relentless
stare on his desk chair.
“Watching me in my office is like watching paint dry,” Smith
said. “As you can see, there is not much to watch. All I do is just
sit here.”
Smith is only in his office a few hours a day — if that even. For
the most part, the Web cam is not videotaping anything but an empty chair.
He doesn’t have a Web cam at home because it’s “too
personal,” he said.
In 1996, “there were hardly any Web pages,” Smith said. Smith’s
Dan-O-Cam page was one of the first Web sites on campus, and it can easily
be found by typing “Dan-O-Cam” into just about any search
engine.
Smith has received e-mails from people all over the world, including students
in Europe. He recently got an e-mail from a German girl asking him to
“do something, like wave” into the camera, he said.
“I get something interesting on the Web cam at least on a monthly
basis,” he said.
So what inspired Smith to do this?
“I did it for fun,” he said.
Smith’s Web cam has also come in handy for other purposes. One time,
he looked on his Web cam from home and saw that his office door was open.
“I was able to call the [campus] police to lock the door,”
he said.
If students want to know when Smith is in his office, he tells them to
look him up on the Web site. Billy Durham, 20, an English and history
major, said he would rather just stop by Smith’s office to see if
he is in.
“I don’t have time to go to a computer lab,” Durham
said. “It would be quicker just to stop by.”
“Occasionally, students come in and don’t like it,”
Smith said. He will turn off the Web cam for students who feel uncomfortable.
“If it’s class-related, I don’t see much of a problem
with it,” Durham said. “But I don’t think I would be
comfortable talking to him if I was being broadcast over the Internet.”
Smith also posts all of his students’ work and assignments for classes
on his web site. Three counseling classes, self-help info, and some “fun
pix” of Smith with O.J. Simpson, Jay Leno and his daughter in China
can also be found on his site.
“I’m not a computer geek,” he said. But Smith likes
the technical aspect of computers. He has designed a few pages, such as
the Clovis West high school band Web page and the faculty Web page for
the counseling department.
Even though Smith set up his Web cam for fun, he said, “It does
seem a bit narcissistic to put a camera on oneself, like there is something
to watch.”
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