Wednesday 5 November 2008

Non-events in real time


I love watching the Webcams on the SANParks website. It takes much strength of will not to spend the whole day obsessing about what has been seen on the cams. but checking the night-time sightings recorded on the forums is part of my morning ritual when I get to my desk.

The other night, a few weeks ago (thanks Bessie for the most useful expression), there was a fabulous sighting of the rarely seen caracal. The excitement of a sighting recorded (for about a year on this particular forum) is palpable even 12 hours after it was "seen" by the nightwatch, as though I had seen it in real life.

This got me thinking, even though these cams are very popular and most forumites will openly admit their addiction, what if no-one records a sighting? Is that a non-event does it even matter that no-one witnessed it? On a similar vein, if a tree burns in the savanna and no-one is there to douse it with water, does it burn as hot? If a cam goes un-watched do the animals stop visiting the waterhole? I know the answer is no but if someone doesn't witness their visit, does it really happen :P

1 comment:

Allan said...

Terri,
a very interesting write up, I think you must give me permission to use some of it on my website, maybe with a link to your blogg?
Thanks for having the link to SANPARK'S webcams. I went their and enjoyed the view, but your choice of pictures were great!
Allan
P>S> I wonder why more people don't leave comments?
Allan