The document is a comprehensive guide on implementing digital signage in educational institutions, highlighting its essential components, processes, and best practices. It emphasizes the importance of centralized management for effective rollouts and ongoing operations, alongside considerations for content management and network integration. The guide also discusses current trends in digital signage technology and encourages a top-down planning approach for successful deployment.

1. Campus Digital Signage
GUIDE
Schools, institutions and corporations are learning
that digital signage is an effective way to inform.
Find out how to make the most out of learning and
teaching through a digital medium.
Developed and published by Sponsored by

2. Contents
Campus Digital Signage
Page 3 About the sponsors
Page 4 Introduction
Page 5 Chapter 1 | Digital signage components
Location
Display panels
Display mounts and enclosures
Media players
Wiring
Internet connection
Content and content management
Remote network management
Page 8 Chapter 2 | The digital signage process
Planning
Pilot
Rollout
Ongoing network and content management
Page 11 Chapter 3 | Three key functions for campus digital signage
Targetcasting
Content automation
Audience interaction and measurement
Page 15 Chapter 4 | Campus digital signage applications
East Carolina University
University of California, Davis
Loyola University Chicago
The John Marshall Law School
Hudson Valley Community College
Owasso Public Schools
Page 18 Chapter 5 | Current status and future trends
© 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLC | Sponsored by DYNASIGN 2

3. About the sponsors
DYNASIGN is a leading digital signage technology developer based
in Silicon Valley, Calif. DYNASIGN offers a highly scalable and robust
enterprise-class digital signage network platform with advanced
TARGETCASTING technology that allows screenmedia network op-erators
to seamlessly publish the contents to one screen, a defined col-lection
of screens or all screens. DYNASIGN’s reputable DYNASIGN
Online Service portal provides easy access to the content programming
and network management user interface to distribute the contents and
manage the media players deployed in the field.
DYNASIGN is a founding member of the Digital Screenmedia Asso-ciation
and has been actively involved in many industry associations
and organizations to advocate and advance the industry. DYNASIGN
also is involved in selective vertical industry organizations, particu-larly
educational organizations to learn about, educate and work with
user communities.
DigitalSignageToday.com, operated by Louisville, Ky.-based Net-
World Alliance, is the leading online publisher of news and informa-tion
on the emerging world of digital signage, dynamic messaging and
cutting-edge business communication technologies. The content, which
is updated every business day and read by professionals around the
world, is provided free of charge to readers.
Published by NetWorld Alliance LLC
© 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLC
All photos courtesy of DYNASIGN, unless otherwise specified.
Written by Richard Slawsky, contributing writer, DigitalSignageToday.com.
Tom Harper, president and publisher
Joseph Grove, executive editor
Emily Wheeler, managing editor of special publications
Courtney Bailey, assistant managing editor of special publications
© 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLC | Sponsored by DYNASIGN 3

4. 4
Introduction
In a tough economy, digital signage tech-nologies
and deployments remain one
of the few bright spots, continuing to
grow. Digital signage screens have become
an indispensable communications tool for
many types and sizes of business, particu-larly
university campuses. Almost every
university has established a digital signage
system, ranging from a few screens in the
administration building to a campus-wide
screenmedia network. While most of the
networks are well established, the sharing
of content and utilization of the screens has
tremendous room for improvement. How-ever,
the foundation for the improvements
must start with a university or campus-wide
initiative, instead of treating the process as a
facility improvement project.
Digital signage is no longer brand new;
most of the technologies, in fact, are very
mature. More information, then, is available
to allow clients to control the deployment
pace and keep costs manageable.
The latest innovation is cloud-based digital
signage. More institutions are starting
to keep their information “in the cloud,”
making Software as a Service (SaaS), or
managed services, a good consideration
for university digital signage deployments.
The SaaS model offers a flexible deploy-ment
schedule and budget for a minimum
initial investment.
Any digital signage screen deployment,
even as small as a one-screen project,
should be coordinated by a single central-ized
stakeholder on campus. Too often,
each department deploys its own digital
signage, meaning the athletic department
is running a different system than the sci-ence
department, for example, and mak-ing
Important features for digital
signage in universities include:
Scalability
Usability
Granular access control
Interactivity
Live data feed integration
it harder to display content across all
screens. A best practice is to have a univer-sity
communications team partner with the
IT group to evaluate and contract a single
technology vendor for all screen deploy-ments
on campus. The contract even can
be for just one or a few screens as the
university determines how it wants to use
digital signage. Having a central manage-ment
structure and master contract will
ensure the continuity and consistency of
all digital signage screens for content reach
and sharing, as well as a unified visual
appearance and centrally managed screen-media
network.
During the technology evaluation process,
make sure to review a few mainstream and
stable vendors. Some of the must-have
features for university applications include
scalability, usability, granular access control
for collaborative content contributions,
seamless interactive application and ready-to-
use live data feed integration from uni-versity
applications such as events, sched-ules
and emergency alerts.
The following chapters provide the basic
building blocks and best practices for estab-lishing
and operating an effective campus-wide
digital signage network.
© 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLC | Sponsored by DYNASIGN
By Richard Slawsky
Contributing editor, DigitalSignageToday.com

5. Chapter 1 Digital signage components
From the audience’s perspective, digital
signage consists of content, and the
screens to display that content. But
behind each screen, there often is a complex
system that ties different pieces together. It
is important for every digital signage project
manager to understand the various digital
signage components behind the scenes and
how they work together. Those compo-nents,
or building blocks, include location,
display panels, mounts, media players,
wiring, content, content management and
remote network management.
Location
Location is just as important to digital sig-nage
as it is to real estate. Determining the
right location to place screens is one of the
most important issues to consider when
deploying digital signage networks.
The location should have high traffic,
unique demographics and enough atten-tion
span from the targeted audience. A
space where people have to walk by rapidly,
for example, is probably not a good fit for
digital signage, because the audience won’t
have time to look at the screen.
Ease of installation and maintenance also
should be considered. If, once the screen
is placed, it will be almost impossible to
repair should something go down, then a
different location should be considered.
On college campuses, building lobbies
and student unions, which see the most
student traffic, have become targets for
digital signage.
Display panels
Many display technologies, including
plasma, LCD, projection and LED screens,
can be used for digital signage. While
consumer-grade LCD displays may seem
to be a lower-cost option, they can end up
being more expensive. The initial purchase
price might be less, but consumer-grade
displays are not built for the long operating
hours necessary for digital signage display.
As well, consumer-grade displays do not
have the same warranties as commercial-grade
displays. Many professional displays
have a three- to five-year warranty.
Professional displays also offer remote con-trol
and management features via RS232.
Most professional displays have a built-in
video wall processor that allows a deployer
to set up 2 x 2, 3 x 3 or even 4 x 4 multi-screen
video walls without using expensive
graphics cards.
All of these benefits mean commercial-grade
displays should always be the pre-ferred
choice for digital signage networks.
Display mounts and enclosures
Depending on the installation locations
and requirements, mounts and enclosures
can sometimes be an expensive invest-ment.
Ceiling mounts, wall mounts, pole
mounts and floor stands with various
enclosures are the common options for
installing display panels.
Media players
The main functions of a digital signage
media player are content download and
playback.
© 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLC | Sponsored by DYNASIGN 5

6. CHAPTER 1 Digital signage components
Media players come in all shapes and sizes,
but can be divided into two major catego-ries:
PC-based players or digital media
chip-based players.
Digital media chip-based players can be
very low cost, but they often have limita-tions
in terms of content formats, screen
zoning, playback and integration options.
On the other hand, PC-based players,
especially those purpose-built small form
factor media players, often are running
Windows-based or Linux-based digital sig-nage
software. They offer a more powerful
and flexible set of features. They are able to
operate longer hours than consumer PCs.
Therefore, the purpose-built media players
are the preferred choice for digital signage
networks, especially for campus digital
signage, which often requires integration
to other systems on campus.
Wiring
Wiring includes the electric power, the
network connection and the audio/video
cables between local media players and the
display panels.
Small form factor media players can usu-ally
be mounted in the back of display pan-els
and require less wiring. Media players
also can be installed in a back room. In the
latter case, wiring has to be done between
the media players and the display panels.
Audio/video cable wiring options include
regular VGA cables for distances within 100
feet or CAT5 cables with a transmitter and
receivers for longer ranges. Some CAT5
solutions can support up to 1,000 feet.
Pros and cons of chip-based and PC-based players
Chip-based player
PC-based player
Pros: Cons:
Inexpensive
Limited playback
functionality
Fewer types of content
formats supported
Less ability to zone screens
Fewer integration options
More expensive
More powerful features
Better flexibility
Run on Windows-based
or Linux-based software
Run longer hours
Internet connection
Broadband Internet connection is required
for digital signage networks to distribute
content. Wired or wireless routers can be
installed locally to connect the media play-ers
to the Internet.
Mobile 3G/4G is another option, if local
Internet connection becomes an issue.
Having widely available broadband
Internet on campus is a big plus for
digital signage.
Content and content management
Content is one of the most important
pieces in the digital signage puzzle. Con-tent
has various types and formats. Typical
content types for digital signage include
image, video, Flash and RSS/XML content
feeds. Some content types, such as PDF,
PPT and Word files, are not suitable for
digital signage without repurposing.
© 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLC | Sponsored by DYNASIGN 6

7. CHAPTER 1 Digital signage components
Typical content types
Image
Video
Flash
RSS/XML feeds
It is important for deployers to develop
a content design and style guide accord-ing
to their business requirements. At the
heart of a digital signage network is its
content management system. At the very
basic level, content management provides
content scheduling, content publishing
and content delivery features for digital
signage. Advanced content management
features include content tagging, content
triggering, two-way communication and
an open platform for integration.
Remote network management
To keep a digital signage network healthy
and running cost-effectively, the network
should be able to be managed remotely,
avoiding unnecessary field services. Good
management services should be able to fix
90 percent of all problems remotely with-out
dispatching a technician to the site.
At the heart of a digital signage network is its content management system, so the
deployer can easily display information that is both engaging and useful.
© 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLC | Sponsored by DYNASIGN 7

8. Chapter 2 The digital signage process
Campus digital signage is not a
finished product, but rather
an iterative process including
planning, pilot, rollout and ongoing
management. Before jumping into a digital
signage network project, it’s important
to not only grasp the concept of various
digital signage components and how they
work together, but also to understand the
process. It’s an on going monitor, refine
and repeat process.
Planning
During the planning phase, the first step
is to assess the need and build the team.
Come up with a concrete list of reasons for
the purpose of the digital signage. Clar-ity
can be gained by looking at the project
from a “needs standpoint” — in other
words, what needs is this system going to
meet? What pain is being alleviated? If the
institution has trouble answering these
questions, it should take a step back and
reassess why it is pursuing digital signage
in the first place.
“Building a digital signage network is a
process,” said Jimmy Dun, vice president
of business development for Fremont,
Calif.-based digital signage technology and
service provider DYNASIGN. “In addition
to the deployment budget and resources,
the planning team needs to establish ongo-ing
management resources. Most of the
projects that we have seen are well planned
in the deployment phase but lack com-mitment
to resources post-deployment.
Without the long-term planning and com-mitment,
the deployment investment will
not be effective.”
“Another important aspect of digital
signage project planning is to have a
top-down approach,” Dun said. “No mat-ter
how many screens the initial phase is
deploying, even if the scope is as small as
only one or two screens, schools need to
conduct a campus-wide analysis instead
of a departmental or a group initiative in
planning and selecting solutions.”
Although more work might be involved in
the planning stage, schools should con-sider
it an investment in a unified campus
operation. A digital signage managed
service solution may be well positioned to
start a small network with unlimited scal-ability
and flexible deployment schedules.
It allows the deployer to focus more on
business requirements rather than how to
get different technology components in
place and make them work together. The
scope of projects based on the bottom-up
approach usually is isolated and limited to
requirements in the local department or
facility. If each department or facility starts
its own digital signage deployment without
coordination, the school will likely end up
with a few different isolated digital signage
systems using different technologies that
cannot be connected together.
Questions to ask when deciding
on digital signage
What needs is the system meeting?
What pain is being alleviated?
How will success be measured?
Who will manage the content?
Who will keep the system working
and up to date?
© 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLC | Sponsored by DYNASIGN 8

9. CHAPTER 2 The digital signage process
With goals and measurement criteria in
hand, it’s time to build the team that will be
responsible for the project. The top-down
planning approach will require colleges to
form a centralized digital signage project
team, including IT, marketing, finance and
department representatives. The central-ized
team, will determine objectives and
phases of the project.
Pilot
Most digital signage projects come in at
least two stages — pilot and rollout. The
goals of the pilot are to demonstrate the
benefits and feasibility of campus digital
signage, to estimate the resources required
for on-going management and finally, to
evaluate the usability, scalability and qual-ity
of technologies for the real deployment.
One major mistake is to do all of the plan-ning
with an eye on the pilot, leaving the
team with some significant growing pains
when it comes time to deploy the full bat-tery
of screens. To stave off those growing
pains, begin by making three basic projec-tions:
pilot, initial rollout and one year
later. For each of these landmarks, cata-logue
and project estimated needs for each
of the following:
Number of hardware devices that will
be deployed.
Number of software licenses needed.
Network bandwidth requirements —
what is needed to deliver the content,
process transactions, etc. across
all devices
Media assets needed — how much cre-ative
will be needed in order to fuel the
project? How will that change over time,
and as the number of devices increases?
One major mistake is to do all of the
planning with an eye on the pilot,
leaving the team with some significant
growing pains when it comes time to
deploy the full battery of screens.
Human resources needed — how many
people are going to be tasked with keep-ing
the deployment running smoothly
on a day-to-day basis?
Deployers often make the mistake of focus-ing
on the first two items on that list — hard-ware
and software — because they are the
biggest and most expensive, at least on the
front end. But over time, content creation
and network management can end up being
the heaviest loads to bear.
Rollout
Once the pilot project has proven to be
successful, the rollout can begin phase
by phase according to the schedule and
plan. At the rollout stage, the deployer
can potentially transition from a complete
top-down planning approach to a hy-brid
top-down and bottom-up approach.
The top-down approach ensures that a
campus-wide roadmap for digital signage
is developed. All screens on campus will
become an integral part of an overall
campus communication platform. On the
other hand, the bottom-up approach can
speed up deployment at the departmental
or facility level. Each department can start
its rollout based on the common platform
and the same standard, but according to its
own resources and schedule. By taking this
two-pronged approach, the deployer reaps
the benefits of both worlds.
© 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLC | Sponsored by DYNASIGN 9

10. CHAPTER 2 The key business advantages of cellular networks
Ongoing network and content
management
Managing a large campus digital signage
network can potentially be a daunting task.
It’s important to keep content up to date
and relevant to the audience. In addition
to publishing their own content, deploy-ers
should determine what kind of external
content feeds might be appropriate for the
network. The digital signage network also
may be integrated with other information
systems on campus to automatically de-liver
dynamic content and information to
screens. Make sure that the digital signage
software or service allows easy integration
with third-party content sources and ap-plications.
No matter where the displays are
located physically, whether within the same
building or across multiple campuses, con-tent
can be updated dynamically and cen-trally;
the displays and the players should be
monitored and controlled centrally.
As the network grows from a few screens to
tens or even hundreds of screens on cam-pus,
the deployer will be going through an
iterative process to make the campus digital
signage better and more cost-effective.
© 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLC | Sponsored by DYNASIGN 10

11. Chapter 3 Three key functions for campus digital signage
Campus digital signage keeps faculty,
staff, students and visitors through-out
the campus connected. Whether
at their desks or on the run, everyone can
stay informed. A campus-wide digital
signage network usually includes screens
with media players at multiple locations
throughout one or more campuses. Both
campus-level network managers and
department-level managers will need to
program content for the network. How to
effectively manage content and audience
interaction becomes extremely important in
this multi-location and multi-user environ-ment.
In this chapter, we’ll introduce three
key functions to manage campus digital
signage better and more cost-effectively.
Targetcasting
The essence of digital signage is target-casting.
Targetcasting allows a digital
signage deployer to accomplish what TV
broadcasting or campus TV narrowcasting
cannot accomplish. It allows a deployer to
deliver individualized content to screens
on a network based on their locations.
While a digital signage network can be
used to deliver the same message to all
screens, it is the function of targetcasting
that sets IP-based digital signage networks
apart from the traditional campus narrow-casting
TV network. After a large campus
digital signage network has been deployed,
it should be able to perform the following
functions routinely and effectively:
(Targetcasting) allows a deployer to deliver
individualized content to screens on a network
based on their locations, setting IP-based digital
signage apart from traditional narrowcasting.
Publish content to all screens in the
entire network
Publish content to screens in only one
building or department (for example,
the library)
Publish content to screens with certain
specific attributes at different locations
across campus, such as screens only
placed at the entrances of buildings
Publish content to a particular screen,
e.g., a screen inside the bookstore
Campus-wide emergency alerts would go
to all screens, for example, while a depart-mental
seminar event appears only on
selected screens.
Use the content management system to
effectively organize the screens and assign
proper access controls to multiple users
based on how content can be published
on the network. For example, screens
should be grouped based on locations and
other attributes. A campus-wide network
manager should have full control on all
screens, while a department-level manager
may only be allowed to publish content to
the screens in the department. As big as
a campus digital signage network can be,
allowing local managers to have as much
local control as possible is the most effi-cient
way to deliver the right content to the
right screens at the right time. All screens
should be centrally managed campus-wide
on the common platform with the flexibil-
© 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLC | Sponsored by DYNASIGN 11

12. CHAPTER 3 Three key functions for campus digital signage
ity of dedicated local control.
Content automation
The best content engages the audience
with relevant and timely information. That
means keeping content fresh and up to
date, with regular updates and influxes
of new information. Manually collecting,
producing and publishing content to a
campus digital signage network is a daunt-ing
and expensive undertaking. Content
may be the king, but content management
is really the heart and soul of a digital sig-nage
network. With the help of a content
management system, the entire content
flow process can be automated to deliver
fresh content to the screens, while at the
same time minimizing human errors and
labor cost. Content automation provides
efficiency for a campus network.
The basic concept in content automation is
to automate the entire content flow pro-cess
from content collection at the source
to content playback on screens. The job
of a digital signage content management
system is to make the content automation
process easy and seamless, including:
Collection: Retrieve the content
elements automatically from their
sources with update intervals specific
to each particular content area
Presentation: Use a set of predefined
content templates designed for indi-vidual
content sources
Scheduling: Schedule content deliv-ery
and playback time
Delivery: Deliver content elements,
including XML and media files to the
media players
Playback: Play content according to
The Chicago Transit Authority uses content automation to au-tomatically
update the digital signage network that broadcasts
real-time bus scheduling information using GPS technology.
the predetermined schedules
Implementing the content automation
process ensures up-to-date and relevant
content flow to displays throughout the
campus automatically, without manual
intervention.
Content automation can feed a wide
variety of content sources to the screens
automatically, including:
Emergency alert systems
Event scheduling systems
Weather and news feeds
Social media applications
Bus schedule information
Local events and community
information
Campus poll or survey results
Without content automation, content
publishing requires a significant amount
of manual operation. However, by imple-menting
content automation, content
© 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLC | Sponsored by DYNASIGN 12

13. CHAPTER 3 Three key functions for campus digital signage
Content may be the king, but content
management is really the heart and
soul of a digital signage network.
publishing becomes seamless and effort-less.
The end result is that each screen on
campus becomes an effective communica-tion
tool to display the relevant content to
the right people at the right place at the
right time.
There are numerous ways for content to be
automated in the academic setting, from
linking scheduling software to show which
rooms are being used for what or when tu-ition
payments are due, to linking to online
RSS feeds to automatically import up-to-the-
minute news or weather information,
to linking to social media sites, such as
Twitter, to display tweets featuring certain
tagged words.
A project DYNASIGN has worked on with
the Chicago Transit Authority provides a
good example of simple content automation
that will captivate at least a certain number
of eyes on campus. DYNASIGN and the
CTA have piloted a digital signage network
that broadcasts up-to-date, real-time bus
scheduling information using GPS technol-ogy,
letting bus riders know just how long it
will be before the next bus arrives based on
the current location of the bus.
Audience interaction and
measurement
The first generation digital signage net-work
can be characterized by delivery of
one-way passive content without audience
interaction and measurement. A deployer
could know how many times an image or
Content automation can feed digital signage screens to publish campus-wide
emergency alerts.
a video had been shown, but it was impos-sible
to determine if anyone actually saw it.
By introducing audience interaction into
digital signage, the audience is engaged
and the deployer can obtain audience mea-surement
and tracking. Like other digital
signage networks, campus digital signage
can engage its audience with interactivity
in a variety of effective ways:
Touchscreens. Touchscreen technolo-gy
is the most common way to achieve
audience interaction. Touchscreens
have been popular for many years
in informational kiosk systems. By
integrating digital signage with infor-mational
kiosk applications, a hybrid
solution can be created that shares
the benefits of both worlds. A digital
signage loop with up-to-date content
can be played while no one interacts
with the screen, but then switch to
interactive mode immediately upon
touch. All clicks can be recorded and
analyzed for audience measurement.
Mobile phones. In recent years,
smartphones, such as the iPhone or
Android, have experienced tremen-dous
growth. Those smartphones are
© 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLC | Sponsored by DYNASIGN 13

14. CHAPTER 3 Three key functions for campus digital signage
pre-installed with Web browsers and
also have the capabilities for add-on
applications. Campus digital signage
can use mobile websites or mobile
applications to allow audience interac-tion
with screens in real time.
Anonymous video analytics. Another
form of interaction is through anony-mous
video analytics (AVA). By inte-grating
AVA software (such as Intel’s
AIM) with the digital signage player,
a deployer can detect the number of
people who have looked at a screen and
how long they were looking at it. Con-tent
can then be triggered according to
the presence and gender of an audience
in front of the screens. The number
of impressions, length of impressions,
audience size, dwell time and gender
data all can be recorded and analyzed
for anonymous audience analysis.
Web applications. While most inter-actions
can happen in front of screens,
another type of interaction can occur
away from screens. When properly
managed and controlled, social media
applications, such as Facebook, Twit-ter
and Flickr, can be used to interact
with campus digital signage. For ex-ample,
messages can be sent to screens
via Twitter feeds, allowing the audi-ence
to interact with the screens even
when not on campus. Results from
student polls and surveys can be col-lected
from Web applications and sent
to screens automatically in real time.
An audience can achieve interactivity with
digital signage via different means. Wheth-er
they are in front of a digital signage
screen at the location or miles away, in this
new paradigm, the audience will be able to
interact with and contribute to digital sig-nage
screens. Campus digital signage is no
longer a stand-alone technology; instead,
it becomes an integral part of the campus
communications platform.
The campus digital signage network at Hudson Valley Community College uses
Twitter feeds to populate the screens and interact with the audience.
© 2011 NetWorld Alliance LLC | Sponsored by DYNASIGN 14

15. Chapter 4 Campus digital signage applications
For schools, digital signage represents
a powerful new tool that can unify
communications, improve campus
life and generate revenue, all through the
same effort. The campus environment
can provide a large number of viewers per
display with high viewing frequency of a
homogenous and attractive demographic.
That perfect marriage of ideal audience
and ideal technology is turning the campus
into one of the most active environments
for new digital signage installations.
“The key to success is to make the
screens part of campus life with
relevant live content, contributed
seamlessly by all levels of school
officials, academic programs, sports
and student organizations, promotions,
postings and instant alerts of any
critical events and warnings.”
— Jimmy Dun, vice president of business development, DYNASIGN
“Among all digital signage network deploy-ments
so far, the school campus is one of
the ideal use cases,” said DYNASIGN’s
Dun. “With such a high concentration of
the interest-related audiences, messages on
well-placed digital signage screens on cam-pus
are guaranteed to reach every student.
The key to success is to make the screens
part of campus life with relevant live con-tent,
contributed seamlessly by all level of
school officials, academic programs, sports
and student organizations, promotions,
postings and instant alerts of any critical
events and warnings.”
In this chapter, we are going to take a look
at a few campus digital signage projects in
the United States.
East Carolina University
East Carolina University (ECU), an emerg-ing
national research university with an
enrollment of more than 24,000 students
and 5,000 faculty members and staff,
started by deploying a campus-wide digital
signage network of 100 screens through-out
its campus using DYNASIGN’s Online
Managed Service. ECU has a centralized
digital signage taskforce. By working with
different departments and facilities, the
centralized taskforce team has successfully
deployed screens at key locations through-out
the campus, including the cafeteria,
library, bookstore, academic buildings and
student housing buildings.
“Our main objective when implementing a
digital signage network on our campus was
to provide a centrally managed solution for
marketing and emergency notification. It
was important that we find something that
could be taken over quickly in an emer-gency
situation but was flexible enough
to allow individual control within depart-ments,”
said Brandon Estes, spokesperson
for ECU. ECU publishes content of various
types, including image, Flash, HD video
and RSS feeds, on its network. It uses
the network for general school informa-tion
and announcements, departmental
East Carolina University needed a way to communicate with
students and staff quickly and effectively. Digital signage
offered a solution.
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16. CHAPTER 4 Campus digital signage applications
information and events and promotion
of on-campus retail and food services.
ECU’s marketing department defines the
content and screen layout standard, while
each department controls the screens at
its location. Therefore, it is important for
the digital signage content management
system to have granular user access control
so each user can be granted different privi-leges
based on the location of the screens
they can control.
University of California, Davis
At University of California, Davis, one of
10 campuses of the world’s preeminent
public university system, the Graduate
School of Management, rolled out a net-work
of five screens within a few weeks,
using DYNASIGN Online. Screens were
strategically placed at the major entrances
of the school buildings. A hybrid of digi-tal
signage loops and a kiosk application,
including a calendar, events, a directory
and a floor plan, deliver both up-to-date
and interactive content for faculty, staff,
students and visitors to the school.
Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago, a private uni-versity
with an enrollment of more than
15,000 students on multiple campuses, has
been operating a digital signage network of
30 screens using DYNASIGN since early
2007. The digital signage network mainly is
used for student and employee communi-cation
across multiple campuses.
“A digital signage network not only im-proves
communications on the campus
among students, faculty and staff, but also
serves the needs of students who today
expect more timely access to information
utilizing a technology they embrace,” said
Alan Stockbridge of Silverbeacon, a digital
signage system integrator that deployed
the network for Loyola University Chi-cago.
“The digital signage screens not only
provide communication, but also give the
campuses a modern, vibrant atmosphere
that is current with today’s technology.”
The 30-screen network also facilitates
intercampus communications. The Lake
Shore campus, serving as the main resi-dential
and undergraduate campus, and
the downtown campus, hosting a majority
of graduate-level classes, are approximately
eight miles apart. After the deployment of
the digital signage network, the students,
faculty and staff at the two locations can
now share up-to-date information, such as
school events, calendars and messages from
the president, on these digital screens.
In addition to sharing information on the
campus, Loyola University Chicago also
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17. CHAPTER 4 Campus digital signage applications
Hudson Valley Community College
Founded in 1953, Hudson Valley Com-munity
College is sponsored by Rensselaer
County and is part of the State University
of New York system. The college serves ap-proximately
13,500 students each semes-ter,
and employs more than 630 full- and
part-time faculty members. Hudson Valley
Community College has deployed more
than a dozen screens on its campus.
Owasso Public Schools
Digital signage has not been contained
to just college campuses. Owasso Public
Schools in Owasso, Okla., is just one of
many K-12 schools that use digital signage
to provide the same informational benefits
to students at universities, such as ECU
and The John Marshall Law School.
The Owasso Public Schools deployment
with DYNASIGN Online Service has used
digital signage to connect its 15 schools
together within its system.
uses the network to deliver local commu-nity-
service information, alumni infor-mation,
obituaries and more. Since the
inception of the digital signage network,
the university has found that demand has
increased by user groups to creatively
display more content that can be published
on the network to promote the school and
local community.
The John Marshall Law School
The John Marshall Law School is a law
school in Chicago, founded in 1899.
The John Marshall Law School has de-ployed
a campus digital signage network
with DYNASIGN products since 2009.
The downtown Chicago campus includes
four buildings. Thirteen screens were de-ployed
in 2009, followed by an additional
12 screens in 2010. The Chicago Transit
Authority Bus Tracker feed is integrated as
part of the digital signage on campus.
The school has set up the live feed to
screens in buildings across campus show-ing
when certain buses will be arriving
at certain bus stops. Students who ride
the buses to and from school can check
the signs to see when they need to head
toward the bus stop. That’s a built-in audi-ence,
and one that will be checking the
screen regularly throughout the day.
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18. Chapter 5 Current status and future trends
Multiple factors have spurred
the growth of digital signage
networks on campus in North
America over the past few years, including:
Requirements for campus-wide emer-gency
announcements
Better campus communications for
faculty, staff, students and visitors
Widely available broadband infra-structure
on campus
Increasing affordability of display panels
Maturing digital signage technologies
Even though more and more colleges are
adopting campus digital signage today,
digital signage is still considered a “nice-to-
have” by many colleges. Tight budgets,
coupled with other, higher priority and
“must-have” projects are major hindrances
to the growth of campus digital signage.
Digital signage screens are sometimes
referred to as the fifth screen, after
movie theater screens, television screens,
personal computer screens and mobile
phone screens.
New products often start out as “nice-to-haves,”
but some of those products can
transition from “nice-to-have” to “must-have.”
Digital signage has the potential to
become a must-have on campus. In order
to be labeled as must-have, a product must
become an integral part of a business pro-cess
or an integral part of daily life.
Helping digital signage become a necessity
instead of a luxury includes its ability to:
Automate live content based on time,
location and user interaction
Provide two-way messaging by lever-aging
existing databases
Connect digital signage screens with
mobile phones and desktop PC screens
Engage students, making the signage
an integral way to communicate
with viewers
Integrate real-time polling and
survey results
Digital signage on campus has the po-tential
to become an integral part of the
campus communications platform and a
required part of campus life. The contin-ued
growth of digital signage technology,
as well as falling prices, will help digital
signage go from a nice-to-have to a must-have
part of any campus.
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