NEWS

You’re never far from the Pit, thanks to new World Wide Web site

By BETHANY GREER
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- There is always something interesting happening in the Pit, the most popular student hangout at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Now you can stay in touch with all the action in the Pit from your personal computer, thanks to a new World Wide Web site.

UNC is now broadcasting 24 hours a day of live images from the Pit, located a few steps below ground level, bordered by Student Stores, the Frank Porter Graham Student Union and Lenoir Dining Hall. To view the live footage, visit http://www.unc.edu/webcams/pitcam.

The camera is located on the second floor of the student union and has a clear view of the action in the Pit.

"This is the Pit every day all day if you want it to be," said Marian Moore, vice chancellor for information technology. "I expect that once students find out about it, they will use this to send messages to parents with signs."

This is UNC’s first campus webcam installed by Moore’s division, and Moore said it also would serve as another way to connect Carolina with alumni and friends not in Chapel Hill.

Early this year, the university sponsored focus groups with students for items they would want in a UNC portal. "They overwhelmingly asked for a webcam. Our students loved the idea of seeing the action in the Pit," said Lori Casile, director of special projects for Information Technology Services.

"The camera is continuous live-feed set at 10 frames per second, which makes it look like a movie," said Michael Phillips, ResNet Program manager. "It’s pretty darn fast."

The camera is an Axis 2120 with a built-in Linux system.

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(Greer is a senior history and journalism and mass communication major from Fort Wayne, Ind.)