Off the Rails Episode 24: An Electrified Display of Sorts

Recorded August 13, 2021

We’re back! It’s been a weird couple of weeks with some of the AV SuperFriends moving across town, some moving across the country, and others staying right where they are. Summer is full of vacations and travel… and so many AV installation projects! And what better way to close out summer than with a discussion of digital signage on our campuses?

We first try to define digital signage in a very general sense and then describe some of the issues we’ve had deploying, supporting, and maintaining it at our institutions. Jamie describes how to blind your students and faculty, Rachel suggests we use the devices that students carry with them, and Chris shares how to booby trap digital signage content players so they don’t sit on a logo for 8 months.

We then talk about how we might use digital signage players and displays for academic purposes and vice versa. After all, we’ve got a bunch of displays around— we might as well turn them into informal huddle spaces or support the teaching in the space.

Also, we discuss some AV news about something that should have happened a year ago— Zoom support on Smart TV streaming boxes. Well, at least on one box from Amazon. Where are the home telepresence devices?

News story: https://www.techhive.com/article/3627488/amazons-second-gen-fire-tv-cube-now-lets-you-make-zoom-calls.html