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Screenshots from BU
Information Network
Founded in 1872 as part of Boston University, Boston University School of Law [www.bu.edu/law/] ranks among the top 25 law schools in the U.S., offering more than 150 courses, five concentrations and 13 semester-abroad programs. The school was among the first to admit women and minorities, and its distinguished graduates have gone on to become the first of their background to hold high positions in public office. The school is located in Boston in the heart of the university, where it occupies the tallest academic building on campus.
Objectives
The Boston University School of Law needed a cost effective way to better communicate throughout the campus with the faculty and staff. Like most universities, Boston University's School of Law had several announcements that it needed to communicate to students on a daily basis, such as meeting times and places for student organizations, news, information on campus-wide events, and special announcements like security or emergency messages.
Solutions
The school had been relying on old-fashioned announcement systems, including paper posters and bulletin boards. These methods were inefficient and required too much regular maintenance.
Existing Powerpoint-driven, single-screen methods did not provide the scale and robustness the university was interested in and lacked several important features. In particular, the system needed to support security alerts that could both be instantly activated and centrally managed. Internal attempts to create such a comprehensive solution did not scale to multiple screens or provide the attractiveness the university was interested in.
In September 2008, after several months of considering various communication alternatives, the university installed digital displays to better disseminate information throughout the BU Law community.
These displays were installed in high traffic areas and in places where students tend to gather, including the BU School of Law's main foyer and elevator platforms.
To manage the system, the school chose Aerva technology, which enables a university to become its own interactive but private broadcast network. University administrators are able to create, schedule and manage custom content, including video, text and images on flat screen digital displays.
A Boston University content group creates and uploads content onto the servers that BU hosts. BU cable is also fed into the Aerva players' "video-in" ports so that a cable channel can be displayed on the sub-window portion of the screen at certain times. All playback, reporting, content management, scheduling and network management is done using Aerva's AerWave software.
Results
Boston University School of Law was able to better communicate with students and faculty in a way that is both captivating and efficient. The low-maintenance system also does not impact heavily on the school's staffing resources.
