There are some uses of Digital Signage that we all know and have come to accept as standard. Advertisements in the shopping malls and shops, menu boards in the cafes and coffee shops, departure information at the airport – these are all somewhat “traditional” uses of Digital Signage. As Digital Signage has moved into our schools and perhaps you have a “welcome screen” in your foyer, or a Digital Menu Board in the canteen, what has emerged is the need for a little more “advanced” Digital Signage.
Contents hide
1 Bring on the TV Channel
2 Live Streaming Services
3 How does it work?
4 Contribute Signage is the Answer!

Bring on the TV Channel

Throughout the year at TouchIT Technologies we visit literally hundreds of schools on our travels all over the world. What we are seeing is the emergence of the “daily broadcast” or “morning briefing” something which used to come from the head teacher or principal has tricked down into a group media activity for the students. 

More and more, we are seeing the emergence of school TV Channels where each morning, whichever student’s turn it is to present read and broadcast the daily news. Transmitting this material to the rest of the school currently is requiring that a teacher login to a selected channel or specific URL on their interactive Whiteboard or Interactive LED. Once the broadcast is finished, they then can navigate away from this. There is quite a lot of reliance on the individuals to actually log into the right website or url on time.

Live Streaming Services

Most of these broadcasts are using streaming services such as UStream or YouTube Live which of course are totally fine but they do require the teacher to login. What about the other digital signage screens around the school – in this case they are redundant is it is not feasible to go round and change them manually at 9am for the broadcast and then back to the signage at 9.10 when it is done. What if we could do this automatically from within the Digital Signage Software?

The good news is we can do just that with the band new version 2.0 of Contribute DIgital Signage. We are able to link directly into your UStream or YouTube Live Stream and then schedule the channel to auto-play at 9am every day, or whatever time you choose. This removes the human interaction needed to physically switch over to a channel or physically load a web page – Contribute Signage will do that for you.

How does it work?

So how does it work? It is quite simple and you just need to include your live feed into your layout. First, you create your account at www.contributesignage.com and login to create some new signage. If you are just going to create a layout for your “TV Channel” then perhaps a single tabbed layout is what you need. Then, from the menu you need to add your Streaming object. If you are using YouTube live, you can use the live url from your account and add the Youtube from the widgets menu. If you are using livestream or indeed another live streaming service, you need to copy the embed code from your account and paste it into the “custom code snippet” at the bottom of the widget’s menu. Once you have saved your layout, you will need to set a Schedule from the “Schedule” menu so that you can then select the days and time that your channel automatically switches on. Assign this schedule to your device or groups of devices and you are ready to go.

Now, at whatever time you have selected for your channel to appear on your TV, it will auto-load on all your playback devices, which is a fancy term for Digital Signage Screens.

Contribute Signage is the Answer!

You have read the above on how to create a TV Channel for your school through Digital Signage and you will be pleased to know that Contribute Signage from TouchIT Technologies is able to do all of the above and a heck of a lot more. If you don’t want the hassle of configuring your own player, we have our own. We also offer a no obligation trial for 15 days of the software. You don’t need to enter any credit card details to access the trial. What is more, there is no reoccurring monthly or annual fees with Contribute Signage so it is a one-time, perpetual licences. So why not give it a go. Head over to www.contributesignage.com and sign up. 

Enjoy!