Stacia Linz

SLM 521

Elective #12

Webcams

WEBCAMS

Webcam clip artclipart.net

 

  1. Visit several of the webcams from this list of Alaskan Webcams . Select one. Spend some time making observations about the setting and the landscape, and then use what you see to write the first page of a story in the style of Jack London. Please focus on setting!
  2. Stephen Hawking has been quoted as saying, “I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space. I therefore want to encourage public interest in space.” [Hawking took a zero gravity flight in 2007 and planned to take a space flight in 2009.] Now that you are familiar with Hawking’s writings, and read A Brief History of Time, please look at  NASA's live space station webcam. What is the purpose, in your opinion, of space travel? Please write an entry  in your Log on this topic. You may be as literal and data-point-oriented, or as metaphorical as you like.  
  3. Please visit the Panda Cam at the National Zoo, and use it to reflect on our discussion of cultural symbolism in Don Delillo’s novel Mao II. Select one character from the novel (does not have to be a major character). How is this character like or unlike a giant panda? How does this fit into the cultural and political symbolism?
  4. Please explore the live aviary cam at The Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Use the webcam, your Audubon Field Guide, and the other resources at this site to identify and write about the behavior of four different species of birds. Please make a drawing of each bird (using colored pencils) in your Writer’s Log, with your observations.
  5. This is a fascinating webcam which condenses the past 12 hours of activity on The Panama CanalThe Panama Canal into a single minute of footage.  Please read Dennis Sulik’s poems, “Ode to the Panama Canal” and “The Big Ditch.” Watch the footage and re-read the poems. Try to get a sense of the repetitive nature and function of the Canal. Write a poem—at least twelve lines—which conveys your sense of the Panama Canal. Be prepared to defend your themes to your small group.