TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The College of Communication and Information Sciences at The University of Alabama with assistance from Alabama Live is going worldwide via the Internet.
Alabama Live, one of the state’s best-known Web sites, expects to have a Web camera mounted to an exterior wall of the College’s Reese Phifer Hall in time for UA’s first campus football game. It will be the first Web-cam on an Alabama campus.
The camera will permanently point to the corner of University Boulevard and Colonial Drive. Continuous video will enable fans all over the world to visually link to the campus 24 hours a day. Live programming will be fed through the hookup to Alabama Live’s Huntsville studios.
Ken Booth, editor of Alabama Live, said he hopes to have the camera working before Alabama’s first Tuscaloosa football game, Sept. 30 against South Carolina.
Alabama Live presently has three Web cameras at two different locations its home office in downtown Birmingham and on the Gulf Shores beach. The beach camera is the most popular, drawing about 1,000 hits per day, but Booth said he expects the Phifer Hall camera to become the most popular because of its campus location and its programming. The Phifer camera will enable a worldwide audience to view a live game-day show hosted by UA students.
According to Dr. Ed Mullins, chairman of UA’s department of journalism, the College was eager to join Alabama Live in the venture because so many students are exploring Web-based career opportunities. “Students from all of our program areas will gain experience in writing, programming, presentation, promotion, videography and much more, eventually including advertising and marketing,” said Mullins.
Alabama Live has given Alabama Journalist (the College’s online student news site) permission to simulcast Alabama Live programming originating from the campus.
Alabama Live will assume all expenses of installation and operation of the project, Mullins said. Latter plans include a Web cast, originating from the busiest corner on campus, for every home game.
“It will be our own version of ESPN’s select game of the week, such as last Saturday’s Tennessee-Florida game in Knoxville. Through Alabama Live, we will be giving people a virtual game-day experience,” said Mullins.
Booth said future plans include hosts talking about the game and reporting on the range of campus activities, including rivalry histories, concerts, Quad activities, player profiles, rankings, lawn display contests, parades, pep rallies and celebrity interviews.
Interviews with coaches, cheerleaders, players, members of the band and out-of-town fans are also likely possibilities.
Contact
Lance M. Skelly, UA Office of Media Relations, 205/348-3782
Source
Dr. Ed Mullins, 205/348-7155