Plasma and LCD screens are the most visible signs indicating that technology is being used inside and outside of the classroom. They are in many cases, the only indication that many visitors to the school, college or university will have about the high level of budget expended annually on Information, Communication & Technology (ICT). So it is crucial that this equipment should both engage and inform the visitor to ensure ongoing support with the many future investment objectives.
This is what Digital Signage is all about: conveying messages with ease to inform and engage with a target audience. ONELAN, a company based in Henley-on-Thames, is a key player in the Digital Signage arena. Their product is termed a Net-Top-Box (NTB) - a compact piece of hardware with embedded internal software that maximises audience interaction by enabling dynamic screen presentation. The same message can be introduced at multiple screen locations, perhaps in different buildings, counties or even countries, from a remote central control point.
Successful ONELAN NTB installations in schools across the UK have led to comments such as: “This was an ideal solution for distributing information simultaneously to all twenty nine schools within the council remit”, Brendan Murphy Head of ICT and Marketing, Glasgow Council. At Wilmington Girls Grammar School in Dartford, Kent, Head Teacher Maggie Bolton commented: “We have created a visual feast, something in which the whole school wants to be involved.” John Lycett, Procurement Manger at Dane Court Grammar School near Broadstairs, Kent said: “In the eleven years I have been at the school this system has had the biggest single impact of anything I have done.” And finally at Shiplake College, Henley-on-Thames, where Headmaster Gregg Davies calls the NTB ‘The Gizmo Box’, and a student commented ‘It looks wicked’, House Master Chris Alcock said: “It looks a million dollars. In an age when image is everything it makes a massive impact.”
A PowerPoint presentation on its own is no bad thing, yet is it often dull and static. Digital Signage makes the screen an information market that can be controlled from a remote location, yet provides the freedom of local screen adaptation. Imagine a screen displaying Teachers’ TV, with a sidebar scrolling down showing classroom changes, and sections across the bottom advising local points of interest. The screen is busy, eye-catching, dynamic, and the eyes and minds of the audience are drawn to it.
In the canteen or refectory the menu is shown across the bottom and the benefits of healthy eating added in the side-bar with the five-a-day message; all with MTV or perhaps another program showing in the background with audio set at acceptable levels so that normal conversation is not disrupted – again controllable locally to allow program change or an increase or decrease in volume as required.
Emergency information, fire alarms and drills, general safety requirements, in fact a wide range of non-education specific applications, can be displayed. With multi-lingual versions of the same message in different Zones on the screen, the potential for confusion if the audience is of a varied ethnic background can be minimised.
The ONELAN NTB allows on screen displays including video, animation, stills, text, audio in a wide variety of formats, streaming of free-to-air TV channels such as Teachers TV or BBC News 24, and RSS feeds, yet allows the user to suspend the current schedule and play a defined layout indefinitely, which can be very useful for safety announcements.
Full details of the range and capabilities can be viewed at www.onelan.co.uk
