As of 2023, we are moving to a new digital signage system, Screencloud. This documentation pertains to ScreenCloud.

Screencloud is a digital signage system that lets you manage the content of your sign from a web browser. You can include images, videos, and apps such as the weather on your sign, and these can be included in a single slideshow or assigned to parts of the screen.

At Brown, we use Chromeboxes as sign players. The Chromebox is mounted behind your display (TV) and connects by HDMI cable. If you already have a Smart TV, you might be able to install a Screencloud app instead of using a Chromebox. Chromeboxes can be ordered through a request to the Office of Information Technology.

Screencloud Glossary

• Space - your department’s area on Screencloud. Most people just have one space, but if you are managing content for multiple departments, you would see spaces in a drop-down on the left menu.
• Screen - the physical location where your content is playing. You will not see any screens listed when you log in to Screencloud because they are all centrally managed. We centrally manage them to support emergency alert broadcasts.
• Channel - this is the set of content that’s assigned to play on one or more screens. A channel is either landscape or portrait and can have a layout associated with it - it can play content full screen or you can split the screen into parts. You can either have a channel for each screen, if the content is different, or you can use a single channel on more than one screen if the content should be the same. Once the channel is set up, you don’t need to change it.
• Playlist - a set of content that can be put on a channel. This is where you will do most of your work. Though you can put content directly on a channel, we recommend using playlists for two reasons:
  • If you want to switch out what’s playing on your screen for a special event, it’s as easy as switching out the playlist
  • If you have more than one screen and want them to play similar, but not exactly the same, content, using a playlist for the repeated content will eliminate duplicate effort.
• Media - Images and videos uploaded into the system, can be included on your playlist
• App - Allows for more functionality such as displaying the weather, a date countdown, YouTube videos, and more. (Note: due to our centrally managed screen setup, the Playground app does not work).