Students don’t always have to leave their rooms to find out what’s happening on campus.

Nine live webcams provide 19 different views of Iowa State, so all students have to do is just log on to www.iastate.edu.

Justin Peel, junior in community and regional planning, sees several advantages of the technology.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea,” Peel said. “There’s nothing that people should be doing out here that they don’t want people to see.”

The cameras might come in handy during Veishea to record any accidents or disturbances, Peel said.

However, it would be hard to capture accidents or disturbances because you wouldn’t be able to access video from the camera, said John Hoffman, a web technologist for the Facilities Planning and Management who is in charge of the campus webcams. He said it only takes still shots every five minutes.

Stephen Volcko, junior in marketing, doesn’t see any issues with the technology.

“It’s a public place, so I don’t think it’s that big of deal, but at the same time, I really don’t understand why,” Volcko said.

The cameras are also useful in showing off Iowa State’s campus, Hoffman said.

“I had a former student call me from Sweden and tell me she’s watching the Veishea Parade on one of our Memorial Union cameras,” Hoffman said.

Iowa State is not alone in having webcams with live feeding images of different spots on campus. The University of Iowa also has a live webcam on its campus.

Other schools which have embraced this growing idea of live campus webcams include: George Washington University, the University of Oregon, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Arizona.