By Tejal Patel
Students who complained about boring weekends and mundane weeknights on campus, citing that they never were informed of events, are now without excuses with the new addition of the new business grade LCD monitors that the University added several weeks ago.
The monitors were placed in 22 different locations around campus, including the student center and the Axinn library. The new “Dynamic Digital Display Network,” or “Hofcast”, display information about events that are occurring all over campus.
As of now, the broadcast goes through a 10-minute cycle. Templates have been created recently to make continuously adding information easier.
According to Melissa Connolly, Vice President of University Relations, it took a few years to allocate the needed budget and 18 months to acquire and put together plans for the system. The money for the new network came from savings that included a refund from Newsday advertisements, as well as money from the University’s operations budget.
Some students feel that this money was not well spent, however.
“It’s a complete waste of money,” said Tim Gann, a sophomore film major. “They could’ve just taken this money and put it towards the new dorm or the new unispan or any of those things that they actually do need.”
Students like Patrick Emerson Childers think that the display networks demean the campus feeling.
“I feel like I’m at the railroad station and I don’t want to feel like that while I’m getting lunch,” Childers, a freshman linguistics major, said. “And the worst part is that I usually ignore them even if I stare at them. It’s just something to help you count your steps.”
The idea for this system came about after hearing student criticisms in the focus groups that are conducted every semester, as well as from student satisfaction surveys. Students complained that although there were a variety of events around campus, they did not know details and specifics until the actual date. The University decided that it needed to create a central location where students could receive all the information they needed about on-campus events.
The “Hofcast” can also be viewed on Channel 32. The administration is also working to create a link on the University’s Web site for current and prospective students to view events.
“We are still working on the language of the channel,” said Connolly. “It’ll start to include news of the week, campus events, athletic events, student activities and upcoming University deadlines.”
The system is designed to be expandable. Having the templates ready will be cost efficient if and when the University decides to add the LCD monitors to more locations.
Sophomore Lauren Keough thinks that the network is worth the money because of an eventual increase in student participation.
“It is a much better way to advertise events and subsequently people are getting more involved,” Keough said.
