Lights, camera, construction - this photo shoot is not what you would expect. Cameras have recently been set up at construction sites on the Polytechnic Campus.
According to Kati Weingartner, Polytechnic director of info technology, the cameras were up at the start of the semester in mid-January.
"This is something new we're trying out," Weingartner said. "We put them up for the community because we thought they would like to see the buildings come up; we thought they would like to see the progress."
The cameras are stationed where three building complexes are going up. One camera covers Buildings A and B, the soon-to-be Morrison School of Management and Agribusiness, and College of Science and Technology. The second camera is filming Building C, which will be home to the East College, Social and Behavioral Sciences and Physical Education.
"This is the first [camera] we've done out here because the technology has gotten a lot easier," Weingartner said.
There is also talk about putting cameras at the Downtown Campus to watch the progress of the new Cronkite School and Mass Communications building, she added. The cameras from the Polytechnic Campus will be reused for the duration of the project, she said.
Theater freshman Ryan Conley said he questions the necessity of the cameras.
"It seems like a ridiculous expense," he said. "I don't see the point to it."
The Polytechnic Campus University Technology Office put up the cameras.
The money for the cameras comes out of the annual campus budget, Weingartner said.
"It's a discretionary fund to benefit the campus and the community," she said.
Conley said he is skeptical that the money allocated for the cameras is being spent in the best possible way, however.
"[Seeing the progress of the buildings] could be a cool feature, but money could be used for something better," he said.
The construction footage can be viewed on the Polytechnic Campus Web site, www.poly.asu.edu.
Reach the reporter at: lauren.misak@asu.edu.
