By Sarah Kinney
Staff Writer

Over the summer, Simmons Technology set up the new digital signage system across the Academic and Residential campuses.

“The new system supports dynamic rich media, such as videos, Twitter, news feeds, the scrolling student event calendar and more.  The former system only allowed static images and single screen view, where as the new system shows multiple streams of information at the same time,” said Director of the Project Management Office for Technology Deborah Wahlen. The system runs the event posters, a live Twitter feed, and the Student Activities calendar.

The signs are in 11 locations across Simmons: the Lefavour Lobby, the library, the Main Campus Building lobby, outside the Linda K. Paresky center, outside Admissions, the first floor of the Palace Road building, the first floor of the Management building, the first floor of the science building, the Student Activities Center, Technology and Academic Communications in Lefavour, and Bartol.

“The cross functional team noted above started with a list of nearly twenty possible locations and did campus ‘walk-arounds’ while school was still in sessions last spring to observe high traffic areas and locations where people congregate,” said Wahlen. “We  needed to narrow the list down to work within a budget, and so the locations were prioritized based on the foot traffic observations and wanting to have a sign in as many buildings as possible.”

The team that worked on the digital signage system included representatives from a variety of campus groups, including the Office of Student Leadership and Activities, Student Residence Life, Marketing and Communications, Academic Communications, Student Financial Services, Advancement, and several Technology areas.

Student leaders of recognized school groups will be able to upload posters to the display system operated by Visix. There will be a step-by-step guide so students can create content that conforms to the Simmons brand. Until all the leaders are allowed to use the system, they can contact Susan Chudd in the Office of Student Leadership Activities. Individual students can post signs through OSLA.

Staff and faculty members can also submit signs via the operating team member or dean.

While there is no video on the signs yet, the system does have that potential.
“What is showing on the screens now is our first generation of content,” said Wahlen.  “The Digital Signage Team is excited to evolve the system to meet campus needs in the coming year.”

For more information on digital signage, you can email digitalsignage@simmons.edu or check out their website, accessible via Simmons Technology Support.