Computer science department chair Robert “Coach” Dependahl’s coach cam web site is receiving rave reviews from people all over the country, and even the world.

Coach cam is a popular camera that views City College, the Channel Islands, the harbor and his office. Images are displayed for everyone to see as it happens.

Dependahl named his creation after his nickname, “Coach,” about 10 years ago.

“My purpose in having this camera is to explore new technology in the computer science world,” said Dependahl. He also expressed a desire to get City College some exposure, and show what the city of Santa Barbara has to offer.

Dependahl said most Internet surfers who are browsing for colleges find the link to coach cam. “People get curious,” said Dependahl. “I show it to my students on the first day of class and they love it.”

Students or faculty can log on to www.cs.sbcc.edu/~rhd/coachcam.html to get a look at coach cam. This link takes you directly to the web site, where a live video is updated every 15 seconds. Dependahl controls where the camera goes and where the scene is focused. He has control of zoom in and out functions, as well as sharp turns of the camera. Once the first page is opened, it will show an image of what Dependahl is focusing at. Every 15 seconds, a new image is produced.

If you click on the image, coach cam will show streaming video content of the image. One day the camera could be focused outside of his office window. The next day it could be focused on the ocean.

Each day is different and it keeps people’s curiosities heightened.

“Coach cam is a great way to see the campus and what’s around,” said art history major Hail Von Helde.

“I think that it’s neat that someone from our college came up with the idea,” Helde said.

The site also gives the weather forecast, which Dependahl says most of his students go on coach cam for. “I really like the forecast because I commute from Oxnard three days a week,” said Von Helde.

City College students and people from all over the world can look at “coach cam.”

Dependahl said he sees people from as far as Switzerland looking at coach cam. “They love what they see; the beach, sun and ocean. It’s enough for them to come to Santa Barbara and visit,” said Dependahl.

Some individuals also go as far as to getting on the coach cam here on campus by standing near one of locations that coach cam covers around campus.

There are contests for those who visit the camera web site regularly. Some will log on to the site as much as 60 times a day.

The average monthly visits to coach cam range from 30,000-35,000 people. Last month, coach cam received approximately 21, 600 visits.

Dependahl plans to continue running coach cam even after he retires from City College, as his invention continues to gain popularity. “I have plans to keep it going,” said Dependahl. “It’s fun.”