Diary and column Digital signage Digital signage: business opportunities in the new normal


AV technology, and digital sig- nage in particular, has a critical role to play in keeping people safe in the society of the Covid era. We look at the role of tech- nology in guiding people in pub- lic spaces; in ensuring that Covid protocols are observed; and monitoring exposure to infection in individuals and groups. In par- ticular, we consider the effects of Covid-19 compliance on touch interfaces.


The coronavirus pandemic has made each of us very self-aware about how we interact with the world. Perhaps inevitably, this increased attention has led to concern among many in the industry that touch-first digi- tal deployments are witness- ing the beginning of the end. Touch, some say,


is going to


be another viral victim as the public swings its attention to- ward touch-alternatives. The U.S.-based CDC has somewhat walked back its concerns about transmission by touch. But this is not a matter of rationality. Concerns about cleanliness are both instinctual and influenced by emotion.


are also likely to need special housing to protect sensors that may limit deployment options. What if we move the touch in- terface to separate ‘clean’ third party devices? Use of mobile phones as a remote control raises the spectre of securi- ty risks, leaves out those who lack a personal device and can force an oversimplification of the main screen UI to accom- modate phone real estate. AI- based computer visions make (often educated) guesses based on the quality of pre-trained models, resulting in inferences that are typically but not always accurate.


So, touch alternatives are crit-


through the CTOUCH website. Limiting access


While cleaning kits perform a useful and socially responsible role, they are among a number of measures. Remember, masks are worn to protect others, not yourself. And social distancing is the only real solution to the crisis until we have a vaccine. So, if a health-conscious cit- izen is given the choice of a touchscreen with sanitizer or human interaction with masks, self-service will often win out. That is not to say the count- number


less of touch-first


CTOUCH, for example, has an- nounced a campaign called ‘We Care’ which mandates that all its latest touchscreen models in the UK will ship with a specially de- veloped screen cleaning kit.


Touch remains the most ac- curate communicator of pref- erence, and it is far more con- trollable than human-to-human interaction. For communication with digital content, touch persists as the best universal means for expressing one's preference.


It doesn't care


about accent, appearance or environment. It is not adverse- ly affected by noise, light or crowds. It doesn't require train- ing of any kind. It can run on increasingly affordable hard- ware. And feedback can be instantaneous, enabling users to complete a transaction at a time when the user's objective is speed and not dwell time. Touch alternatives are numer- ous and improving in quality all the time. In fact, COVID-19 aside, they are critical for ad- dressing accessibility needs for the physically challenged. Everyone should absolutely consider offering touch-alter- natives in your interactive dig- ital deployments. But to the exclusion of touch? Only if the implementation demands it.


Touch alternatives


Each touch alternative has a set of challenges: speech rec- ognition engines have limited vocabularies, sensitivity to am- bient noise and fragility with accents. Gesture technologies also have a limited ‘vocabulary’ and can require the public to form precise hand shapes or movements leading to a prohib- itively long learning curve. They


P10 AV News June 2020 P14 AV News September 2020 P12 AV News November 2019


ically important in their abil- ity to help both the physically challenged and the health-con- cerned to work with digital content. But currently, they're not better options. Touch is something the entire public is familiar with and it remains the clear leader for creating intui- tive, quick, and satisfying inter- active experiences.


They are also a far safer alter- native to human-human inter- action. Maybe we can't always control the cleanliness of the touch screen, but users can control the purity of their hands immediately after – particular- ly if there is a sanitizer sta- tion nearby. There are however moves in place to limit the risk of virus transmission through use of touchscreens.


CTOUCH, for example, has announced a campaign called ‘We Care’ which mandates that all its latest touchscreen mod- els in the UK will ship with a specially developed screen cleaning kit. Gregg Ringer, Head of UK Market Develop- ment for CTOUCH comment- ed: “In a time where surface cleaning is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, we want to ensure we are doing our bit to help our customers. As a com- pany, we have launched a se- ries of initiatives which ensure we are as environmentally and socially aware as we can be.” The branded ‘Wipe & Shine’ kits will ship with all the new CTOUCH Riva touchscreens. Customers who have already purchased can claim their kit


deployments have no respon- sibility to adapt. This “new nor- mal” we all hear about cannot be ignored. All of us are being trained to use hand sanitiser regularly, and any touch-first digital deployment would be doing a disservice to its intend- ed audience without having a sanitizer station nearby. Clean- ing schedules also need to be frequent and visible. (Anti-mi- crobial screens/coatings can undoubtedly help, but their presence and effectiveness are invisible to users and thus insufficient to trump the need for public cleaning activities.) And the onscreen digital con- tent would do well to include messaging and guidance about safety and user responsibility. By doing these things, peo- ple will adapt. Don't turn your


Initially, for product research but most importantly to en- sure that they were offering the best in class products to their customers. CDS believe individuals and companies should be incredibly careful when purchasing temperature testing solutions. This is due to the quality and reliability be- ing uncovered during testing. These issues plus security con- cerns should become a part of the conversation. CDS did not cover data security, assuming no data is stored, but rather the actual quality and reliability of the products being sold. Test- ing revealed issues with some of the unbranded products (al- beit promoted by US, UK, and European companies). CDS have uncovered some signifi- cant weaknesses including the following:


• After prolonged periods of around 12 hours, the sensing software froze and required a hard reboot. • Tablets do not appear to come pre-calibrated and have shown incorrect temperature by around 1.5-2 degrees! • Use of lower quality tem- perature testing sensors. (With some claiming they use a branded temperature testing sensor when in fact they did not!)


• Poor English translations of instructions


• Offer no improvements or


and in some cases the screen size is felt to be too small (the reason it is 7-8” is due to the cheap price and lower quality of the displays used) •


Inaccurate description what the product can do


CDS concludes: “These un- branded temperature testing solutions being offered, either by UK / European companies, as well as Chinese resellers are all identical, although the tem- perature results varied! CDS have tested a number of these and in multiple ways have found them unacceptable to use, in terms of quality and re- liability and due to several rea- sons including some of those above. This product is mass produced in China at an OEM factory to a price point to sell millions


rather than focusing


on the quality and reliability which is why it utilises lower quality components. It is built to a price and carries the tag of ‘good enough’ which may be OK for a consumer type prod- uct or home use but not for pro- fessional and commercial use where the quality and reliability is a must.”


CDS poses the questions all companies should be consid- ering:


• How many of these units have been sold and installed but give false readings? What if someone is barred from en- tering a building because of a


of


The result of CDS’s research and testing was that the Glorystar Tauri solution was the best and most accu- rate with several benefits unbranded solutions do not offer.


back on touch-alternatives, but don't turn your back on touch either. It is ubiquitous because it works, and there is no rea- son to be pessimistic about its future. There is a high level of interest in solutions that can be used to screen out infected individuals from public spaces, protecting


digital signage by


limiting access. Crystal Display Systems have sourced and test- ed several temperature testing solutions when they began to appear on the market.


software updates


• Some models stopped work- ing overnight, so when individ- uals came into the office the unit had to be turned on and off again to reboot, which for many applications is unaccept- able, and rises question to the overall quality and accuracy • No API or SDK for develop- ment • No ability to connect second- ary monitor


• Limited to one size that does not meet all application needs,


failed body temperature test, how can they prove that the test has been carried out to a certain standard? • CDS have also noticed that either the product is sold at too low a cost to get anywhere near international standards for accuracy that already exist for this technology. But also, less reputable companies are selling the same poor technol- ogy at extremely inflated prices which should be questioned. • CDS believe companies need


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