November 1 – 12, 2004 Vol 75, No. 7F

SPROUL WEBCAM: The webcam installation coincided with celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement, which originated in the fall of 1964 when student activists defied a campus order against setting up tables in Sproul Plaza.

Sproul installation features state-of-the-art webcam

A robotic camera mounted atop UC Berkeley’s student union for six weeks last fall exhibited the latest webcam technology and simultaneously got people thinking about privacy in public places, all in conjunction with campus events celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement.

The brainchild of Ken Goldberg and a multidisciplinary student team, Project “Demonstrate” was tested by more than 4,000 users who, through the camera’s Web site, could get a live view of Sproul Plaza, remotely zoom in for close-ups, and snap still photos for posting on the archives. Up to 20 web users at a time could share the camera, which would then calculate a group view.

“The system uses algorithms we developed for efficiently computing the optimal camera frame given many simultaneous user requests,” says Goldberg, professor of IEOR and EECS. The project was exhibited at the Whitney Museum’s Artport Web site and has generated dialogue on campus and beyond.

Visit the Web site at http://demonstrate.berkeley. edu for a simulation of the live site and photo archives.

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