By Joseph Lopez
Lopez@newsroom.byu.edu
Anyone who has access to the Internet can now follow the reconstruction of the Nauvoo temple virtually brick by brick.
Robert Stevens, a programmer at Novell, said he has put together a Web site that follows the construction of the temple in Nauvoo, Ill.
'You can get various pictures from different angles of the construction project -- also, a comprehensive list of the latest news,' Stevens said.
There are daily pictures and commentary on the Web site, www.nauvootemple.com, and all of the people contributing to the site are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Stevens said.
There is also a link to a live 'TempleCam,' www.deseretbook.com/nauvoo, that is set on top of a bank near the temple site, he said.
According to the Deseret Book Web site, the TempleCam is updated every minute from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. CST. Stevens said that he offered the site to the LDS Church but the church was not interested at the time. The church is welcome to take the site whenever they want, he said.
Stevens does all of the programming for the site. However, he receives daily photos and commentary from Max Kearse, an independent computer consultant who lives in Nauvoo.
'I look at it as kind of trying to do a journal,' Kearse said.
There is a lot going and he can only capture a slice of it, he said.
'We would like the site to provide a way for people who are interested to feel like they were here while it happened,' Kearse said.
He said he hopes the work they are doing will have some historical significance, and the site contains enough interesting content that people will want to come back and see what is happening.
Although the temple site can be seen from Kearse's office window, he is limited on how close he can get to the site because he has to stay outside of the fence line like everyone else.
Val Arbon, manager of Global Server, is Stevens' neighbor and has been working with Stevens for a number of years on other Web sites.
Stevens told him that he purchased the domain name for the Nauvoo site and Arbon responded by offering to host the site for free through Global Server.
Stevens said they also plan on launching a new theme called 'Coming Home to Nauvoo.'
The Web site would spotlight Nauvoo, but would also focus on the various historical sites in the area, he said.