Digital Signage Content Sharing at Penn State

Jump to: Background Information | If It's Broken, Fix It | Where Did We Start? | Content Sharing Process | Benefits and Advantages | Who's Sharing Content?

Background Information:

With more than 500 digital displays across 50+ units and 20 campuses, we wanted to create a way to efficiently and effectively share digital signage content among all units while still giving each unit freedom to display what they want, when they want. A lot of our units have messages that are relevant to many of our students outside of their respective areas. By sharing content across digital signs, we can increase visibility of these messages.

If It's Broken, Fix It

Our old process was very inefficient and time consuming. When a unit had content to share, they would email the content to whatever sign managers they could track down and hope the content made it onto the signs. This resulted in a number of problematic issues including:

  • Inconsistent aspect ratios for main content area
    • Often needed to create multiple versions to fit the many sign variations
  • Limited knowledge of who to contact
  • Out-dated content often remained on signs long after event date
  • Send/receive an email for each new piece of shared content
  • Content sometimes required several weeks lead time to be added to signage
  • Multiple people involved in updating signage for a single piece of content
  • Potential for errors to the Four Winds Interactive system by inexperienced users updating content

The result? Ineffective and often duplicated work and effort.  We know our units have great content and information to share, but we needed a more efficient way of spreading that information. So, we decided to look into a change.

Where Did We Start?

Like many large universities, Penn State has a lot of units working in a somewhat decentralized manner. As such, there was no central location or office to inquire about digital signage. It was a free-for-all where each unit did their own thing and often unnecessarily duplicated services and processes.  In an effort to make things easier to navigate, a group of content creators and sign managers got together and developed a plan. We then set out to accomplish the following:

  • Research and compile a list of digital signage contacts across the entire Penn State system, including campuses
  • Investigate and test different options for sharing content on multiple signs
  • Develop sample .csv files to be used by units
  • Create instructions and best practices for units to follow to help keep things consistent
  • Create a Shared Content Repository (spreadsheet of spreadsheets) to list all .csv files available for content sharing
  • Communicate with stakeholders about new process and how to get started
  • Provide training and support for units during transition process

Content Sharing Process:

The result of this work is a simplified, streamlined content sharing process:

Our Content Sharing Process: The Content Creator will create a .csv file from a template, then add the direct link to that .csv file into the Shared Content Repository. The content creator then creates their content using a standard 16x9 aspect ratio and places the information about that content into the newly created .csv file. The Sign Manager will create a sign with a 16x9 main content area and then link the sign to one of the .csv files in the Shared Content Repository. Anytime the .csv file is updated by the content creator, any sign linked to it will automatically be updated as well.

Benefits and Advantages:

  • One-time setup for each sign / .csv file
  • Update multiple signs with a single .csv file
  • Schedule content with start/end dates
  • Allows non-technical staff to easily update signs without IT assistance (by updating .csv)
  • Signs updated automatically when new content added to a .csv file
  • Reduce number of people with access to Four Winds Interactive software
  • Increase productivity for Sign Managers
  • Repository of .csv files for units to choose content they want to display
  • Consistent aspect ratio for main content region

Who's Sharing Content?

Some of the units currently sharing content across the university:

  • Office of the Bursar
  • Student Affairs
    • Career Services
    • Conduct and Safety
    • Clubs and Organizations
    • Health and Wellness
    • Intramural Sports
    • Student Health Services
    • Student Involvement
  • Undergraduate Education
    • Financial Literacy Office
    • Penn State Learning
    • Penn State Trivia (20-second trivia question videos)
    • Scholarships
    • Student Engagement Network
    • Undergraduate Research
  • University Registrar
  • Intercollegiate Athletics
  • Office for Information Security
  • Finance and Business
    • Penn State ID office
    • Transportation Services
    • Housing
    • Food Services
  • Penn State Information Technology (PSU IT)
  • Sustainability Institute
  • Undergraduate Admissions

Several campus locations are using these items on their signs, further expanding the reach of our units.

Have questions or want to learn more? 

Contact Jeff Sechler - jrs391@psu.edu. 

Download HighEdWeb 2019 Poster