Photos courtesy MultiTaction
By Jonathan Priestley
Digital signage has changed the way people interact with media. Compelling content has explored new methods for engaging large crowds, while interactive display screens’ high resolution, response time and ability to support multiple types of content simultaneously have proven highly attractive to passersby—but software is crucial for making the entire experience truly interactive.
With the addition of today’s advanced software, interactive displays are not simply flat surfaces that highlight interesting information; they can provide a personalized experience for users, whether recognizing two-dimensional (2-D) codes or responding to the movements of three-dimensional (3-D) objects.
Beyond touch
The most well-known type of interactive digital signage is the touch screen, but today’s users of displays are no longer limited to using only their fingers and hands to manipulate content. In fact, digital display hardware can now support numerous types of interaction at the same time, so long as software is in place to support such capabilities.
Traditionally, digital signage software was designed to display content in a few limited layouts. It could be updated by the network’s owner as needed for its users—including changes to font sizes, colours, information positioning and flow—but allowed very little real customization, as the layouts and formats were already pre-set for each screen.
New software has allowed today’s users to manipulate different types of content within the same display. With support for infrared (IR) pens, for examples, an interactive display can become a large-format notepad, allowing users to annotate content by writing, drawing or sketching on the screen, perhaps for brainstorming purposes during a business meeting. And any such writing or drawing can easily be erased from the screen and/or stored so it will still be available well after the collaborative session has ended.
Some applications tie in with ‘personality cards,’ which let users pull up interactive content that is relative to their identities.
As mentioned, interactive display software can also support the ability to recognize both 2-D and 3-D objects. Users can place a card with a printed code onto a screen’s surface, for example, and the information associated with the card will be instantly recognized and acted upon. At Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, students place their ‘personality card’ on an interactive table and a special software application links it to relevant topics they may be looking for, pulling up information about areas of study, on-campus resources and multimedia content. Similarly, 3-D objects of any shape or size can be ‘seen’ by digital signage software to create an experience that incorporates them into a virtual world of interactivity.
Making it personal
One of the problems facing many digital displays—especially those installed in public environments used by large numbers of people—is they cannot capture any practical information from users. For this reason, software development for interactive displays has focused on the ability to recognize individual users and enable advanced personalization features.
A highly personalized experience not only is advantageous in terms of capturing information about the user, but also allows the content to more immediately engage the user in the first place. Software can use algorithms to recognize individuals’ optical markers—such as a card with a unique code, as mentioned earlier—and provide access to targeted, tailored messaging content. Then, while viewing content on the screen, the user can choose to hold on to any content he/she is especially interested in by saving it to a personalized hotspot and/or sending it directly to his/her own e-mail address.
In this example, a movie theatre loyalty card allows the users to tag content for future reference.
This can be particular beneficial in the retail industry. Studies show 81 per cent of shoppers conduct research before buying a product. The ability to save content from a digital sign and read about a product in-depth at a later point can significantly increase the intent to purchase.
Further, with this type of software in place, the retailer can track every interaction between the user and the screen, accordingly develop more carefully targeted messaging and send that content exclusively to the user, for a more relevant and engaging shopping experience.
