Utah Valley U Overhauls Digital Signage

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 10/07/09

Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem recently replaced its 15-year-old CRT signage with a new display system consisting of NEC 46-inch LCDs centrally managed with software from Scala.

The university purchased 14 NEC Multeos M46-AV 1080p displays and Scala Content Manager, Scala Player, and Scala Designer.

"We wanted to create interaction with students and visitors by adding three different types of digital signage to a variety of areas on campus, each designed to fit within the environment [where] they are placed," said Travis Tasker, director of the institution's Media Tech Support and Integration team (MTSI). "The purpose of creating this signage network was to deliver commercial-free content to the appropriate targeted crowd. We wanted a way to effectively show both national news and internal UVU messaging, and creating an updated digital network based on our previous CRT signage was the best way to accomplish this."

MTSI sought a solution that would allow it to manage when, where and what was being displayed and to monitor the screens from a remote location, including performing image adjustments and color control. The group also wanted to be able to allow any authorized campus member to update content for a local display, as well as to submit it for approval for campus-wide dissemination.

Depending on location, the digital signage network shows a combination of posters, university commercials, entertainment, national media news, and campus RSS feeds. The content of each display is 40 percent location-specific and 60 percent campus-wide.

Billboard-style signage is installed in high-traffic areas on campus and shows brief commercials shorter than 15 seconds. Entertainment signage is installed in areas where students are congregating or standing in line. These displays play longer clips and include news and sports feeds. Interactive digital signage is placed in campus entrances to show maps and other information pertinent to campus visitors.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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