Digital Signage: SGA proposes a new way to access campus information

Potential messages to be displayed on SGA's proposed digital signage. Illustration by Alicia Toldi.

SGA President Nathan Cornell ’11 is spearheading a proposal for digital signage on campus, along with the support of a Student Government Association-run digital signage task force that includes Class of 2011 President Annie Motch, Lambdin Senator Breanne Timura ’12,and Harkness Senator William Hardy ’14.

Cornell presented the issue at last Thursday’s SGA meeting in Ernst Common Room, with a PowerPoint presentation followed by questions.

“Digital signage” is the industry term for any use of digital display technology, primarily of LCD, Plasma and LED materials, communicates information to with an audience. Though “interactive” signs that permit the use of touch screen, barcode scanning, card swiping and other input devices exist, if digital signage is implemented at Connecticut College, it will be of the “non-interactive” variety, with the primary task of breaking through what Cornell suggested to be information overload, and engaging an audience in the Connecticut College community at large.

Cornell discussed the Student Government Association’s “Issues Project” for the 2010-2011 school year, listing proposed tasks such as inspiring a more active student body, fostering stronger relationships between faculty, administration and students and strengthening SGA’s role and image on campus. He elaborated on the issue of inspiring a more active student body. “Apathy isn’t a word I like to hear,” he said, regarding the term frequently used to characterize Conn students. Rather, he believes that in most cases, it’s a lack of awareness and ineffective distribution of information that leads to poorly attended events on campus.

Cornell proposed that by streamlining the information in a captivating way, community awareness and engagement would inevitably increase. Currently, clubs and events utilize plenty of forms of media to get the word out: the internet (e-mails, Facebook events), physical signage (posters or slips of paper distributed to mailboxes), and word of mouth. Despite these attempts, it’s not guaranteed that students will show up to any of the events hosted in a given week.

A recent survey sent out over e-mail asked students to respond to a few questions about awareness levels of events on campus, and whether or not digital signage could improve the current situation. Of the approximate 400 who responded, 14% felt they were informed of events, while 74% felt somewhat informed, and the remaining 12% felt uninformed. Anonymous comments for the survey indicated that many students were inundated with too many e-mails to be able to realistically read them all.

Students said they typically refer to posters, the Daily CONNtact, Facebook and SGA on the Can for information, each category with 24%, 24%, 23% and 22%, respectively. A mere 6% go to CamelWeb in their quest for campus events and only 1% admitted to using CollegiateLink for the purpose.

Comments mentioned that weekly e-mails from House senators and the College Voice were effective methods of transmitting information, while many felt that the “This Week On Campus” e-mails are largely ineffective. As one student commented to Cornell, “By the time ‘This Week at CC’ rolls around each week, half of Wednesday’s activities have already elapsed.”

When asked whether a digital signage message board in a main building on campus might improve awareness of campus events, a respectable 56% of students indicated “Yes,” while 18% responded “No,” with the rest of respondents “Unsure.”

As Cornell pointed out, “Even if only 13% of those who are ‘Unsure’ ended up feeling it was a good idea, that still makes for about 70% in favor – an overwhelming majority.”

The survey gathered responses further indicating that students only felt the digital signage would only be effective if signs were regularly updated, not causing “awkward-waiting-around-to-see-the-next-message” traffic in Cro, and that their effectiveness would depend on maintenance, including making sure the messages are updated and machines safeguarded against damage. On the other hand, one student wrote that he or she did not how a digital board “would make much of a difference,” and that it “might just be a waste of money.”

Students indicated on the survey that Cro and Harris are the most favorable spots for digital signage. 17% felt that Shain Library might be an effective location, while a remaining 12% looked to the Athletic Center, or an altogether “other” destination, sharing 6% of the votes apiece.

Other suggested destinations included JA Dining Hall, the Blue Camel area in the basement of Shain Library, the Office of Admissions, and perhaps the new Harkness snack bar planned to come in next year.

Cornell presented pictures and discussed the digital signage used at Wesleyan University and at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. Franklin & Marshall forwarded recommendations against PowerPoint software for the signage, because it required daily updating and was largely ineffective.

Cornell reassured SGA members that the technology and software that would be implemented in Conn’s digital signage would allow for input of important dates and reminders months in advance, and would operate on a self-timer to conserve energy consumption.

“One digital sign would use about as much light as one of these 4-light bulb lamps here [in Ernst],” Cornell noted, pointing to the ceiling where over a dozen of the lamps hung.

Cornell then opened the floor for questions from the assembly. The big question on everyone’s mind was the cost, though Cornell warned students not to get caught up in price at the moment.

“We’ve already gotten support from The Office of Student Life and are making recommendations to Information Services.” Cornell targets the message boards to run between two and three thousand dollars for the software, plus the costs of the monitors. “Ideally we will have two, and ideally they would be in place soon after spring break,” Cornell added, “but at this point, we need to ask ourselves if we support this effort, and want to look into where this would go.”

Photo from web.