SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - In the aftermath of the Wall Street meltdown and global economic crisis, the nation's universities are facing the new realities of donor belt tightening and are ratcheting up efforts to maintain fundraising rates. To help educational institutions appeal to benefactors during these uncertain times, Vital-Signz, a solutions provider in the interactive-touchscreen-kiosk industry, has introduced a high-tech approach to memorializing major gifts with the Virtual Visitor Center, a flat-panel monitor installed permanently at universities to provide campus maps and points of interest, along with photo and biographical information about major donors.
The first installation of the system is now in operation at Point Loma Nazarene University, a Christian school with 3,500 students located on San Diego Bay Point. Housed in a custom granite kiosk at the entrance of newly constructed Smee Hall, the Vital-Signz Virtual Visitor Center(TM) features a photo and video history of the university, an interactive map highlighting the campus's principle buildings and profiles of the donors that contributed to the development fund.
Founder and chief executive of Vital-Signz, Richard Corwin, an Emmy Award-winning supervising sound editor, said the system's PC-based controller and video-streaming technologies were developed entirely in-house and are among the most advanced in the industry. Currently in use at half a dozen museums and other attractions in the Santa Barbara, Calif., area, Vital-Signz has set its sights on the massive but often overlooked educational market.
"We view universities and colleges as ideally suited to benefit from our system's ability to present interesting and update-able information with touchscreen ease of use," Corwin commented. "The installation at Point Loma Nazarene University is the culmination of our years of experience creating dynamic and crowd-pleasing information kiosks at museums and cultural attractions."
According to Eric Groves, director of Development, PLNU, the idea of using the Vital-Signz system grew out of the school's desire to recognize the efforts and contributions of the benefactors that made construction of the facility possible.
"We were thrilled when it was suggested to us that we could profile each Smee Hall honoree with a photo and biography, complete with scrolling names and rotating photos," Groves recalled. "The dynamic screen and layout draws the attention of students and visitors and invites them to interact and discover what the university offers."
