UMN Digital Signage

Digital Signage Equipment Digital Signage Content Digital Signage Support

Digital signage—also called a digital display—displays content on a screen, similar to a bulletin board. The technology gives the flexibility to easily create a dynamic playlist of content on a screen including events, marketing promotions, news, and profiles.

Advantages to Using Digital Signage

Easy access - Login and create content with your University login and favorite web browser.
Consistent branding - Use UMN branded templates that represent your unit and the University brand guidelines, while also addressing common accessibility issues.
Flexible sharing - Share bulletins and images across the digital signage platform and easily access centrally shared content.
Multiple file and integration options - Easily display content including video and audio files, widget content such as countdown timers and weather, and integrate with other University tools like Google calendar.
Flexible display options - Upload content once to show up on one display or multiple displays within your department.
Add new players - Join the contract at any time.
Centrally managed - Software support, user management, device installation and security updates are centrally managed by University Relations (UR), Classroom Technology Services and Office of Information Technology.

Deciding if Carousel Cloud is Right For You

Carousel Cloud is appropriate if you need the capability to do any of the following:

Easily share your bulletins with other units
Receive sharable bulletings from other units
Your monitors need interactive capabilities

Carousel Cloud is not appropriate if you:

Use a monitor to play a TV channel

Vocabulary

Digital signage has its own vocabulary. Use the terms and definitions below to familiarize yourself with the most frequently used vocabulary terms.

Media player - An electronic device made for sending your content to the display.
Display - The screen that will share your message.
Interactive display - A screen that displays an interactive intake form (e.g., a check-in cue) or navigable content using a touchscreen.
Channel - Your entire display is a channel. All of the content you build is displayed on a channel. You can have many different channels that display the same or different information based on what is best for that location. You have multiple channel layouts to choose from.
Zone - Individual areas on your channel where you can put your content in.
Bulletin - The visual elements that you put on the display in various zones.
Template - You can use templates to lay out your bulletins and can schedule them to play at different times throughout the day.

Cost

Units pay

An annual subscription cost per media player (currently less than $200). The annual rate per media player is based on the total number of media players systemwide.
Costs associated with purchasing hardware and installation.

UR pays

The annual central Carousel Cloud contract cost.

Contact ddsadm@umn.edu to Sign Up for UMN Digital Signage

User Roles and Responsibilities

The UMN Digital Signage allows you the flexibility to grant three different levels of access to edit your digital display's content. Below are the different access levels for digital signage. Review them carefully and choose only the access level your user(s) need(s).

Please note:

Faculty, staff, and student internet IDs are acceptable users. For security purposes, departmental email addresses are not permitted to have access.
Request to add, remove, or change user access by emailing ddsadm@umn.edu.
Users can have multiple roles and roles can have multiple users.
Key Contacts don't have access to Carousel Cloud unless they are made a Content Admin or Content Creator.
Content Admins have all abilities Content Creators have.

Marcom Leads

Our Marcom Leads, as identified on the Unit Marcom Leads web page, are integral in ensuring the digital signage content complies with University brand standards and digital signage policies. The Marcom Lead is responsible for requesting new digital signage, including hardware and access. While they are included on the UMN Digital Signage Google Group, they have no access to the UMN Digital Signage platform. A Marcom Lead can have any of the following roles.

Digital Signage Access and Roles

Responsibility	Key Contact	Content Admin	Content Creator (no direct posting)
Reviews and approves requests to add, update, or remove UMN Digital Signage users	Yes	No	No
Communicates with UMN Help Desk for technical issues resolution	Yes	No	No
Submits updates to zones or channels	Yes	No	No
Approves content created by Content Creators	No	Yes	No
Edits and publishes digital signage content	No	Yes	No
Authorized to add, edit, or delete bulletins or communal media (i.e., templates, backgrounds, pictures, videos, etc.) within assigned zones	No	Yes	No
Create digital signage content	No	Yes	Yes
Is on UMN Digital Signage Google Group	Yes	Yes	Yes

Related Resources

Asset

Digital Signage Equipment