Campus TVs updated

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The approximately 35 television monitors scattered about campus displaying pertinent campus information received an upgrade over winter break to improve their capabilities and usefulness to all on campus.
Media Production Specialist Scott Pienta is leading the charge with the changes to the monitors in conjunction with the donor making the whole project possible.
“What the donor really had the vision for was to keep the students informed campus-wide,” Pienta said. “It’s a way we wanted to kind of tie the campus together. With 1,500 plus students now, we wanted to make sure everyone had that information.”
The recent upgrade took place over winter break. Pienta replaced the old media players that were dependent upon WiFi to new media players that are hardwired into the campus network. The hardwired players allow the screens to be updated instantly.
Because there are spots on campus where the WiFi connection is lacking, the old players didn’t always update as quickly as they should have.
In addition, many of the screens had graphic display issues. Because they were given to the school by the donor at different times, each screen has a different resolution.
“We had to basically go through every screen and design a mask specifically for that screen,” Pienta said. “You’re talking 30, 35 screens, and it’s kind of a pain.”
Since the update was implemented, screens across campus have been more accurate and timely. Anita Gordon, aide to the athletic director, said the monitors have been working much better since the update.
Pienta is hoping to do more with the screens in the future.
A trial run of one of these capabilities — livestreaming an event — was tested last week for the Charger Chopped event.
Anthony Manno, director of student activites, was thrilled with how the streaming went both on the monitors in the Grewcock Student Union and online.
“Filming an event live is difficult, but Scott Pienta and his team did a wonderful job,” Manno said. “There were some groups watching it in A.J.’s and over 100 viewers online.”
The new players also have the technology to allow for building specific ads so, for example, a professor who needs to change rooms for class one day can have one of the building secretaries put that information on the screens in that building.
Currently, each campus building with monitors has its own welcome screen with information pertaining to that building. Pienta and the donor for the project see the monitors as a useful tool for parents, prospective students, and other campus visitors as well.
Another use for the screens is for emergencies, a capability Pienta and Campus Security will be testing later this week and early next week.
“Say we do unfortunately have a shooting situation or a tornado or a fire or whatever the case may be, Campus Security would be able to take over the monitors from any of their mobile devices or their main campus devices to change the monitors to ‘lock the doors,’ ‘get inside,’ ‘get to the basement’ – whatever the case may be,” Pienta said.
With the improvements to the system, Pienta said they now have the capability to make the screens more interactive mainly through QR codes. With the QR codes, passersby could scan to get information about events straight to their phone.
As the project grows and develops, Pienta is steadfast in keeping to donor intent to tie campus together and keep all who walk on campus informed.