Webcam Catches Action at Harbor Meadows Site

Call it the “Partnership on a Pole.”

Arkansas.net and the Northwest Arkansas Home Builders Association have teamed up to provide start-to-finish Web camera coverage of the construction of a new home in Fayetteville’s Harbor Meadows subdivision.

A Webcam was mounted atop a telephone poll across from the construction site. It sends updated still video of the project every 40 seconds to the home builders’ Showcase Home Web Site at www.WeBuildDreams.com.

Gwen Schertel, Arkansas.net’s director of Web development and education, says the idea was to develop a means for prospective buyers and builders to watch the progress of a home under construction. The hope was to reduce some of the misconceptions about the building process, and at the same time, show off Arkansas.net’s Web department.

Arkansas.net donated the telephone line and the Webcam being used, Schertel says. There are currently only four active Webcams in Arkansas, and the Arkansas.net site seems to work best.

The partnership has experienced only one minor problem. Severe spring weather forced Arkansas.net to reinforce the Webcam’s environmental controls that protect it from the elements.

There’s also been a bit of humor with a dog that wanders on and off the work site. It will be interesting to see if the pooch makes the final cuts for Schertel’s slide show presentation after the project’s completed in October.