Filed under: Medical Imagery, Video
The California State Fair and the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine merge media technology, public education and livestock health with VetLiNC (Veterinary Livestock Nursery Cameras), an interactive Web view of the popular State Fair Livestock Nursery exhibit. http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/statefair/
The School has installed three interactive Web cameras inside the Livestock Nursery to display live video of newborn farm animals and their mothers. Website visitors may choose which animals to view, and then zoom, pan and tilt the cameras over the animal pen area. There is a PigCam, a SheepCam, and a CowCam. The webcams are operable during daylight hours during the State Fair, August 5th - Sept. 5th.
The Livestock Nursery is an important part of the school’s education and outreach program. At frequently scheduled presentations, a veterinarian or veterinary student introduces members of the public to livestock agriculture. Visitors learn about the health and welfare of food animals giving birth at the fair.
The cameras can be controlled remotely through the browser using a simple java applet that is downloaded to the viewer upon connection. You can zoom in on any subject of interest within the field of view of the cameras. The system has built-in queuing software which allows the web viewer to “get in line” over the internet to control the camera. The viewer may also adjust the camera exposure, navigate the live scene via a wide-angle panorama, and use the built-in screen shot utility to capture a snapshot from the webcam.
The Livestock Nursery is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to ensure that all the farm animals born at the fair are healthy and their moms are well cared for. After a calf is born, for example, both the mother and baby return to the farm the next morning, and they are replaced in the nursery by an expectant cow.
The LIvestock Nursery has participated at the State Fair for 28 years under the guidance of Dr. Ben Norman, Extension veterinarian emeritus, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. The addition of interactive web cams took place in 2000 through the efforts of CALF, the media production unit for the School. Both the live exhibit and the live cam coverage are a State Fair favorite with the California public.
Web design/development: Rick Hayes and John Gardiner; photography and camera/server/network setup and operation: Don Preisler, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
The live interactive webcast is done in conjunction with hardware, software and support from NuSpectra Multimedia, Inc. of Alameda, California. (http://www.nuspectra.com/company.aspx)
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