I’ve had the good fortune to be involved with the Digital Signage Association since it’s inception a few years ago, as well as membership in the SSKA (Self Service & Kiosk Association).  In the past few months both of those organizations combined into one non profit association which makes my life a lot easier.  The new association is the Digital ScreenMedia Association ( notice how the kept the DSA moniker). And with a membership of over 650 end users, deployers, manufacturers and agencies it is a pretty powerful organization.

I’ve been the chairperson for the DSA Marketing & PR committee for about 1.5 years now and with the merger of the two associations and two committees it was a bit up in the air if I would be the new combined committee chairperson or if the esteemed Bill Lynch of the SSKA committee would lead going forwards.   Well it’s official that I am indeed the new chairperson of the combined committee and we had our first conference call a few weeks ago to engage the now larger committee.  It was a great call as we reviewed old news and new items including some very exciting programs we will be recommending to the board.   I can’t speak of them yet but I’m hopeful they will make an impact in the marketing of the DSA, giving us several PR opportunities and help fulfill the mission of the DSA.   More word on this when it’s public knowledge.

To learn more about the DSA and get involved as a user/integrator/agency of digital signage, mobile or kiosk technologies visit their web site at: http://www.digitalscreenmedia.org/

NURFC's homepage in 2007

We’ve been working with the Freedom Center since 2006 and got a chance to redesign their website in 2007. It was a huge undertaking, a complete rethinking of the site’s purpose, architecture, and design.

Over time the homepage was updated to meet the changing needs of the organization. Recently we were tasked with addressing an upcoming shift in the Freedom Center’s online communications goals and didn’t feel the existing layout could accommodate that without pushing other important information into the background.

The center plans on highlighting the work they do combating modern slavery and want the website’s blog to be the primary avenue for this push. That meant getting articles on the homepage without overwhelming visitors with walls of text. We accomplished this goal by bringing a list of recent blog articles to the homepage and also dedicating a large navigation element to the Slavery Today section of the website.

The Freedom Center's new look

The other elements of the homepage each provide quick access to the site’s more popular sections, we also brought a list of upcoming events in to help balance out the blog headlines.

One of the biggest challenges we faced during our initial design was the lack of great photography. The building and the exhibits are truly stunning but we struggled to get that across. Cincinnati architecture photographer Miles Wolf has taken some amazing interior and exterior shots since our first go around and we weren’t going to miss the chance to incorporate them into the new site (the home page greets visitors with one of 6 randomly chosen images and each of the main sections also sports a large photograph).

Fortunately, due to the modular approach we took to our rebuild of the site in 2007, the process of applying the design to the site went very quickly. With the exception of the home page, which was built from scratch, we were able to apply the new design across the whole site in just a few hours work.

Visit the site and let us know what you think.

AccelAdvisors.com viewed in FireFox

We originally built (but didn’t design) Accel Advisors’ website way back in 2006 and recently tweaked the layout and color scheme a bit and also updated the code to take advantage of some of the new css3 properties like rounded-corners and drop-shadows* (translation: the site downloads a bit faster and is easier to maintain).

Visit AccelAdvisors.com

*These elements don’t display in the current versions of Internet Explorer but do in all modern browsers and will in IE9, which Microsoft is releasing later this year.

We recently integrated a digital signage management system for the Kenton County Public Library system in northern Kentucky.  The project included a content management system to allow the library staff to create or upload media and schedule that content for individual screens across all of their branch locations.  The browser based tools allow for setting content via a scheduling tool to push out media to each screen at a chosen time.

The energy efficient commercial grade LCD screens can be set to automatically turn on and off when the library opens and closes and they have smart cooling systems to help preserve their lifespan.  Each screen has a networked player appliance that receives the content from the digital media server and outputs it to the screen as scheduled.

This is another example of how to digitally communicate with a broad audience and cut down on the time to deliver content versus the traditional printed methods.  Digital signage is often used for museums, retail and corporate communications.  Libraries are an excellent place to communicate to the local community and keep them informed of local and regional events as well as news, weather and library related topics such as the NY Times Best sellers list.

Photos from this installation:

For more information about how your organization can utilize digital signage to communicate to your audience, contact us via our web site.  If you are interested in some of the hardware available you can visit our new hardware catalog at www.TouchScreenHardware.com

Do you have a comment?  We’d love to hear from you by commenting in the blog below.

Electronic Art has built and launched a new kiosk for the Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) that showcases their new Gold LEED certified office building in the Queensgate district of Cincinnati.  The kiosk provides interactive walk through of the various building components that make it unique and qualified for LEED status.  It also includes video of local officials, vendors, designers and MSD’s executive director discussing why this is important and the challenges of getting to this stage. The video also has a closed caption version.

MSD LEED kiosk

Electronic Art worked as a partner with Millimeter Creative agency here in Cincinnati who provided overall project management and design.  We’ve worked with the guys over there several times and they are great.  We’ve consulted with them on application architecture, design and have built their designs bringing the story to life. Then we help to integrate and deploy it to the touch-screen kiosk computers.

The kiosk tells the story of the building’s inception, why it is important and how it is just the beginning of government leading the way on new green architecture and urban planning.  A really good story.  The building is located at 1600 Gest St. in Queensgate and is their new Wastewater Engineering Center. If you get a chance you should stop by that area to check it out. It includes rooftop green gardens, solar panels, rainwater capture devices under the parking lot, locally accessed materials, natural daylighting and recycled materials.  As a gold certified LEED building it is truly efficient and well thought out.  We are happy to have a small role in helping to tell their story of green building methods and going for the gold!

Our vendor, Ergotron, is promoting a give-away for a deserving school of your choice. We thought we’d share:
One lucky school will receive a complete classroom solution including a TeachWell® Mobile Digital Platform, a Samsung SAMCAM 860, Dell S300w Short Throw Wireless Projector, and a Dell Latitude 2100 Netbook—a prize totaling over US$3000!
Through June 30, 2010, you can nominate a school of your choice. It is easy. Simply visit http://promos.ergotron.com to fill out the online form.

We sell a good amount of Ergotron products which are high quality and really like this give back program. And it integrates another of our partner’s products: Samsung. Samsung is another great company.   Nominate your child’s school, your neice or nephew’s school or the school down the street.  And let the school and other parents know about the promotion so they can rack up more nominations!

Arbitron has released a new study that gives some interesting measurements on out of home video and the audience’s ability to retain the message.  I attended a webinar where Arbitron Senior Media Research Analyst Diane Williams discussed some of the key findings in this year’s report. Very interesting stuff!

You can download a copy of the report here.

Enjoy!  And don’t say I never give you anything.

For years we have offered hundreds of hardware options to our clients but have found it difficult to show everything we offer on our site. So we’ve been working in the background to build an online catalog that will enable us to fully showcase the different kiosk hardware and digital signage hardware components in our line card.
This includes everything from full kiosk enclosures, panel pc’s, LCD panels, mounts, stands and more. Everything from IBM & Samsung to Ergotron and Premier mounts.
So keep an eye out for our updates coming in the next few weeks. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, just ask… we probably sell it.

People that are not familiar with retail kiosks and digital signage networks are often surprised to see that 85% of the kiosks and DS systems in place are using Windows.  All they can think about is the horrible experiences they have with their laptop or home PC that their kids use for gaming and downloading of who knows what!   I would also lose faith if that was what was being suggested.  But what most do not know is that the version of Windows used is often a flavor of Windows Embedded.

What is this you ask?  It’s a scaled down installation of the basic Windows framework with only what you need for that specific hardware device  and nothing you don’t need.   The installation is often customized by the hardware provider to include appropriate device drivers and custom components of Windows needed for the application (JPOS, UPOS, etc) and is very stable.  We have some units running on kiosks out in the field that have been going for over three years with not a single problem or visit from our IT staff needed.  It runs on anything from a hand held scanner for warehouse operations to a touch screen kiosk, digital signage media player, or any number of other devices. It is essentially a skinny version of Windows XP.

XP Embedded

The old version was was often referred to as WEPOS (Windows Embedded for Point of Sale)  but they deemed that too narrow focused.  A newer version is called POSReady which I don’t think is a much better name, but it includes much of the newer technologies from more current versions of Windows.  Now, with the release of Windows 7 to rave reviews (it is mucho better in our staff’s opinion)  there is even a newer version coming out called Windows Embedded Standard 7 and is built on the Win7 platform with newer .NET support.  There is even a version for Windows CE.  It may be easier to view this grid comparison from Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/products/default.mspx

With all of these choices it can be confusing.  Ultimately, it depends on what is offered by the hardware vendor since they must first invest a lot of time and effort into creating a custom “image” that works on their hardware.  Some hardware may not have the newer versions available yet, but most due.   Since many of our kiosk and media players use this version of Embedded I have posted a document that explains the difference between the older WEPOS (still available) and the newer POSReady that also shows the end of life support dates.  Download it here for FREE.

If you have questions, or really want a Linux system instead (we still love you) give us a call or drop us an email and we will help provide the appropriate system and software for your needs.   And here is a link to my older Kiosk Blog post on various OS systems (Windows, Linux, Mac, etc) used for kiosks.

Have you had good or bad experiences with Windows Embedded or Linux for Kiosks, Digital signage or other similar devices?  Use the comment feature below to tell us about it.

Well, its that time again when we pack up touch screen kiosks and LCD screens and rush to get our software apps ready to display at the upcoming www.KioskCom.com trade show in Las Vegas on April 14 & 15th 2010 at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino.  We’ve exhibited at this show for many years and  are happy to be a part of it all again.  This time we have a larger 10 x 20 booth and have one of our many hardware partners who have offered to share the booth with us.  The good folks at www.Zivelo.com are providing their kiosk hardware for the booth including the C10, C2, C6 and the NEW C5 model being built just for the show!  We resell all of their models and are always impressed with the quality of the craftsmanship.  We often partner with Zivelo and provide the software applications for many of their clients.  Come meet Ziver and Ross from Zivelo at our booth.

Also, you’ll see our www.Lobstr.net product that has been rebuilt with new CSS3 based programming and a new pricing model for local operation (no subscriptions!).  And a new kiosk application that offers SMS coupon and lead generation services to drive traffic to your store, along with many of our past projects for various fortune 1000 clients.

Some news, next year the show will have a new name and location.  Goodbye Las Vegas, hello San Francisco! And the new name focuses more on the customer and less on us vendors:  Customer Engagement Technology World which will be at www.CETWorld.com . I like the new direction and the guys at JD Events who put on the show are some really nice folks that do a great job!  We are looking forward to the new format next year. See the press release here.

Are you planning to come to the show or perhaps still on the fence?  Well, let me offer you a free pass into the Expo show floor so you can come visit us  and our peers in the industry.  We will be in booth #205 right across from our business partners at Samsung.  Use the discount code at checkout of:   2LV49F and you’ll get the $50 expo fee on us.   Stop by and see us!  Register at http://www.kioskcom.com/register.asp

I hope to have some good photos and interesting products to discuss after the show, and you can follow my tweets on Twitter during the show at:  http://www.twitter.com/KioskGuy

Do you have a comment?  Add your comment below and I’ll give you a special shout out at the show!