Questions
- What is digital signage at Bowdoin?
- What is Carousel and what is it used for?
- Who can post content to the campus displays?
- Where are Bowdoin's digital signs located?
- What can I display on a digital sign?
- How do I get started with digital signage?
Environment
This article applies to Bowdoin faculty and staff who create or manage content for campus digital displays. Bowdoin's digital signage runs on Carousel Cloud, a web-based content management platform, at bowdoin.carouselsignage.net. The College has 26 displays across campus, most tied to a specific department or space, driven by a mix of Apple TV and BrightSign media players.
Resolution
What Carousel is
Carousel Cloud is the platform Bowdoin uses to build, schedule, and publish content to digital displays. You sign in through a web browser, create content, and Carousel sends it to the media player connected to each screen.
How Carousel is organized
Carousel uses three building blocks:
- Channel: everything shown on a display when it is turned on. A display shows one channel.
- Zone: an area within a channel where content appears. A channel can have one or more zones, and a zone can be shared across channels (for example, a clock or weather) or unique to one channel.
- Bulletin: an individual piece of content, such as a message, image, video, or alert, that appears in a zone. You build bulletins from templates and can schedule when each one appears.
Where the displays are
Bowdoin has 26 digital signs. Most are department-specific, in locations such as the Health Center, the Tech Hub, the Roux Center, the Museum of Art, and the Arctic Museum, among others.
Who can publish
Content is published by department publishers. Most departments set their own rules for what appears on their displays, and content is not centrally moderated. Access to publish is tied to the specific zone or display you manage.
How to get started
- Request a Carousel publishing account for your department's display. See the Request Access to Carousel Digital Signage article in the Related Articles section.
- Sign in to Carousel Cloud. See the Sign In to Carousel Cloud article in the Related Articles section.
- Create and publish your first bulletin. See the Create and Publish a Bulletin in Carousel article in the Related Articles section.
Additional Help
If you need further assistance, you have several options:
- Bowdoin Bot: Chat with Bowdoin Bot directly from any KB page for instant answers.
- Phone: Call the Bowdoin College Service Desk at (207) 725-3030.
- In person: Visit the Tech Hub in Smith Union during business hours.
- Submit a ticket: Request assistance through the Service Catalog.
AI-assisted content: This article was drafted with the assistance of an AI writing tool and reviewed by Bowdoin IT staff for accuracy.