Signs of the times: Digital displays go to college

Almost universally, they expressed their commitment to respecting individual rights and accessing only that information made available voluntarily. The possibilities of these emerging technologies nonetheless seemed likely to have an increasing impact on the operations of schools and colleges.

For that reason, education facilities were a central focus at the DSE 2011, now in its eighth year.

According to DSE spokeswoman Geri D. Wolff, the conference began as a small specialty gathering at Chicago’s Navy Pier in 2004 and has grown nearly every year since. This year saw records fall in attendance (5,200), exhibit booths (195), and exhibit floor space (60,000 square feet).

Education applications both here and abroad won recognition at a DSE awards program, too.

The annual DSE Apex Awards honor innovation in the development and deployment of digital signage. Chosen by an independent panel of five journalists from digital signage publications, the winners were named from a field of 78 entrants vying in 10 major digital signage categories.

Winners included a program initiated by schools in the Netherlands, which snagged a gold award; Texas State Technical College, which received a silver award; and West Texas A&M, which took a bronze award.

The top education award honored an initiative called TENQ (pronounced “tank”). Local water companies and health organizations in the Netherlands are working together to install multimedia-enabled water coolers across hundreds of schools in the country, according to a report by Scala, the industry partner for TENQ.