Towson University enlisted the services of NEC Corporation of America and Array Interactive to implement a critically important first phase digital signage program. The partners collaborated intimately with stakeholders from IT, student services, the College of Liberal Arts, University Union, campus police, and marketing. While NEC managed the integration of hardware and software into the university’s network, Array Interactive provided strategic services prior to developing a content design framework that would enable university staff to create and publish content in two of the busiest locations on campus: the University Union and newly constructed College of Liberal Arts.
“The University Union is an important part of the campus life, with over 10,000 students traversing the space daily,” said Joseph Oster, associate vice president of Auxiliary Services. “It’s an extremely dynamic environment and having a tool like digital signage that allows the university, over 300 student organizations, and other groups to present activities and services is already enhancing what we are charted to do. So far the response has been tremendously positive, and I’m pleased that several student organizations have already began developing and publishing a range of relevant content.”
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A sample piece of content from Towson University. |
Not far from the University Union stands the newly constructed College of Liberal Arts building.
“We want to take advantage of technology to publish information immediately in highly visible locations; to highlight news about people, events, and programs; and to reduce the waste and clutter of paper flyers. We also anticipate that the digital signage project provides the technological basis for public presentation of academic programming in lounges and other public areas,” said Dr. Terry Cooney, dean for the College of Liberal Arts.
Jeff Schmidt, Towson University’s CIO, describes the role digital signage is playing at Towson University: “The university is growing rapidly and our ability to more effectively communicate to a broad set of students across the campus is important to us. Careful planning is critical as we seek to understand not only what is desired from a communication standpoint, but what is required technologically to meet desired goals.”
“The success of this program in our mind was greatly dependent on our understanding of the university’s vision moving forward and its rich history. These, in essence, form its brand and the fabric of its present culture,” said Jeffrey Dumo, partner and director of Client Solutions at Array Interactive. The agency performed several exercises in an approximately 45-day planning stage that sought to understand and define the business and marketing case for Towson’s digital signage program, identify and define key content stakeholder roles, primary day parts (specific hour ranges where respective properties receive the most traffic), environmental considerations, and an analysis of campus audiences consisting of students, faculty, staff and visitors.
Once completed, a design, development, and testing phase ensued. “We needed to establish not just a look and feel,” said William Kwok, director of Technology for Array Interactive, “But a digital signage template framework that would work far after we finished training content managers on how to use the system’s content management tool.”
“We are very pleased with the outcome,” said Matt Wynd, director, Information Technology Support Centers. “Array Interactive and NEC have left us feeling empowered, able to create content for two of the campus’ busiest locations. We have the tools necessary to evolve our program and are looking forward to the next phase of its development.”
