Student Government Association executives worked closely with Ball State University administrators this summer to further goals they set in their platform. One of these goals was to install a news ticker in the Atrium, which would broadcast updates about campus news throughout the day.
SGA President Asher Lisec said she and O'Neal Smitherman, vice president of Information Technology, had made strides in making the news ticker a reality.
"I think that this will be a positive communications tool for the students," she said.
The ticker would start out on several screens placed around the Atrium. Lisec said University Communications, student organizations, NewsLink@9 and the Daily News would contribute content to the ticker.
"One of the things we were interested with was in getting good content," Smitherman said. "We're just waiting for [SGA] to tell us the content is ready."
Lisec said finding the right content was still in a planning stage. She wants to sit down and make critera so that something is written down and everyone knows his part, she said.
Lisec is also looking into creating a position to organize the content.
"We are looking at getting university funding and advertising money to provide a job to put all the content together," she said.
She's also trying to make a plan for how the information will be presented.
"I came up with a plan to have two-minute segments throughout the hour," Lisec said.
The rotation of content providers would change, however, so that the same outlet would not get the busiest times every hour, which Lisec said were the 10-minute periods between classes.
Once the ticker is set up, which Lisec said she hoped would be before the start of Spring Semester, the ticker's use will be monitored. Smitherman said any changes or updates in technology will depend on how the students react to the ticker.
"If it's very positively received and the content is useful content, we'll look to see if we need bigger or more screens," he said. "It's one of the things we need to monitor. We'll test one version of it and consider whether other versions would do a better job."
Smitherman said he was happy to see students excited about using technology in a new way.
"I really like that the students are the initiators and also the developers of the content," he said.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
