Library Digital Signage Displays - Networking

[Lolis, John]

In coming up with digital signage for our library, my requirements were: 1)
use existing content without requiring any additional entry or design to
maintain the signage; 2) at the very least, allow the display of existing
WordPress posts of a specific category (featured ones from our website) and
an RSS feed (featured events from our Evanced calendar).  I ended up
settling on the SlideDeck3 slider WordPress plugin (see slidedeck.com)
 primarily because it could display a variety of sources, but especially
those two that I needed most.  In addition to that content, it'll display
content from Youtube, Vimeo, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest and of course,
Facebook among others (btw, I am not affiliated with SlideDeck in any way).

I have it set up on a development server on our internal network, otherwise
I'd include a link to it; not sure if the listserv allows attachments, but
I attached a screenshot of what we have running.  Since it's simple digital
signage that would provide no interaction, I turned off navigation control
through the plugin's settings (but I'd turn those on for an interactive
kiosk).  I also had to edit CSS to hide empty default theme elements so
that the content would be centered properly (that is, not have the content
appear too low because of an empty header or other empty divs) ...and edit
a wee bit of php in the plugin code so that line breaks weren't stripped
from the RSS content.

After those tweaks, it's been exactly what I'd been looking for.  My only
complaint is that after purchase (I believe $119 is the current price for
the development version), you're only eligible for a year's worth of
support and updates; after that, you have to pony up again, unless of
course everything's working to your liking and you find no reason to do
so.  If I recall correctly, $299 will buy you lifetime support and updates.

In any case, if you set up a bare bones WordPress website with that plugin
and can pull supported content from your existing website or other
appropriate sources, you may find it works for you.

pax,



John Lolis
Coordinator of Computer Systems
White Plains Public Library
100 Martine Avenue
White Plains, NY  10601

tel: 1.914.422.1497
fax: 1.914.422.1452

http://whiteplainslibrary.org/


*I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I
go into the other room and read a book.*     Groucho Marx

On Tue, Sep 15, 2015 at 5:31 PM, Vinke, Dana <DVinke at torranceca.gov> wrote:

> Hi,
>
>
> I would like to improve the way we are handling our Digital Signage
> Displays.
>
> Currently we are using PowerPoint slides, changing them to JPEG, then
> loading them on the display via USB. We have six locations with flat
> screens at each.
>
>
>
> We would like to network our signage to make things easier.  Does anyone
> using Digital Signage use software or a service to coordinate slideshows
> via the Internet? We are hoping for something that would be low cost,
> accessible, and relatively easy for staff to use without a lot of training?
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
>
>
> Dana Vinke
>
> Dana Vinke | Principal Librarian of Operations| Torrance Public Library |
> 3301 Torrance Blvd., Torrance, CA 90503 |310.618.5955 voice | 310.618.5952
> FAX | DVinke at TorranceCa. <dvinke at torranceCa.gov>Gov |
> www.Library.TorranceCa.Gov
> <https://wmail.torranceca.gov/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx>
>
>
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