Christine says she likes the interaction and visitors being able to see, hear, and chat with her. They originally put the camera up to give family in Texas a way to see how they were doing. At Christmas, the family broadcast the kids opening gifts so that grandparents could join in from thousands of miles away. Shawn has written software that allows the Web visitor to pan, tilt, or even zoom any of five cameras set up in Stanford's Mechanical Engineering Department. His goal is to create devices that will make collaborative work easier among people working from remote locations.
Remote participants can see who is currently in the loft and what is written on the whiteboard.
Not everyone involved is entirely comfortable with having the cameras around. An audio warning sounds when someone takes control of a particular camera and for some people that's a signal to hide. Home page for all the cool NASA remote cameras. See if you can see either of Erik's two fat cats. Yes, a rotting cam of Spam.