Page 14 - College Planning & Management, January 2018

DIGITAL SIGNAGE: BIGGER THINKING EQUALS BIGGER AUDIENCES
• interactive kiosks both inside and outside that offer surveillance cameras, security phones, beacons, wayfinding, and potential for facial recognition technology and beyond, as desired;
• energy dashboards and classroom schedule screens and onboard elevators;
• digital monument signage that complements the approved campus aesthetic;
• unique indoor touchscreen video walls and high-impact viewing centers;
• digital donor walls; and
• a dedicated URL for the entire network as a repository of
shared content.
There are many complexities to consider when contemplating a project of this scope. But to economize, the basic steps we will follow are these:
• Onboard a new content management system (CMS) that will be
designed to be scalable and keep up with the many stages of our plan and the many custom content integrations necessary to the delivery of critical information/data;
• offer a new level of service delivery to our valuable customer/ user base across campus to include content strategy, digital signage content creation services, SME when planning for new construction or renovation plans that involve signage;
• roll out a new plan for player connectivity that evolves around an HTML-5 platform of cloud hosting and delivery for maxi- mum efficiency;
• deliver a master plan for revenue that leverages corporate
partnerships;
• establish a new centralized form of content output that rewards
both global/campus-wide and local/department interests and that presents viewers with content that delivers on the four main paths above, but also which maintains and enforces the importance of Tech’s brand standards as directed by Institute Communications; and
• create a best-in-class platform when factoring content, screens, service and delivery.
The Future Looks Bright
Georgia Tech’s Atlanta campus is located in vibrant Midtown Atlanta, and our Tech Square has earned a national reputation
for collaborative research between public and private entities and for globally important tech sectors like Fintech. It’s a hotbed for startup fermentation, and the list of major brands seeking to locate Innovation Centers near Tech continues to grow rapidly.
This mashup of high-tech excellence represents not only oppor- tunity for our plan, both in terms of brand presence on the digital signage network, but also in terms of visually demonstrating the lead- ing edge of digital delivery to those who visit Midtown or are lucky enough to live or work there. There are many amazing stories to tell and we can now have a massive new portal on which to share them.
The overall key will be inclusion: it will be critical to include
in this process all departments, the student community, those charged with protecting the campus and its people, those charged with managing the flow of communication, and the leadership that directs campus on every level.
The bottom line is that while the rest of modern society is ac- cepting and benefitting from the advantages of digital communi- cations and signage technology, so should the campus eco-system, and many universities are embracing its controlled growth so as to coincide with strategic principles. CPM
Tom Stipes is senior director–Department of Digital Signage Technol- ogy at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta.
AUTHOR TOM STIPES WILL PRESENT “High Risk, High Reward: How Taking a Big Leap With Big Thinking Can Transform Digital Signage on Campus,” at Digital Signage Expo 2018 on Wednesday, March 28, 2018 at 8 a.m. at the Las Vegas Convention Center. For more information on this or any educational program offered at DSE 2018 or to learn more about digital signage go to www.dse2018.com.
14 COLLEGE PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / JANUARY 2018
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