You may have noticed walking throughout campus recently and noticed the digital signs have a new content on it, a highlighted faculty member. We started rolling out what we are calling "Spotlight On" slowly throughout the signs on campus.

What is Spotlight on?

Every day our faculty are discovering new things, helping the community and making an impact on the world. We know this because we spread it through press releases and news items. To us this used to be great but it wasn't good enough, only a small amount of our campus community read the releases or visit these random websites. Our solution is to bring these faculty members to the masses.

Since the signs are already in high traffic areas it is almost the perfect spot to make campus aware of their accomplishments. Above is an actual sign and what the spotlight looks like. It features a photo, impacting statement, name, title and a call to action to get more information. The goal was to make the signs impact the person walking by it enough to take a second and read or at least recognize the faculty member they may see walking around campus every day.

How to get spotlighted?

Are you doing something great or know someone that is on campus? Just send us an email, web@wayne.edu and we can get the ball rolling. We have found most spotlighted faculty have been nominated by others on campus. This is probably the best way to get someone highlighted.

We aren't limiting the spotlight to faculty members only, we are open to highlighting anyone in the campus community who is making an impact on the world. Students and alumni are the next group to be featured.

What is that silly looking image?

That square image is a QR code.

A QR code (opens new window) (short for Quick Response) is a specific matrix barcode (opens new window) (or two-dimensional code), readable (opens new window) by dedicated QR barcode readers (opens new window) and camera phones (opens new window). The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL (opens new window) or other data.

The barcode can be scanned with a number of mobile barcode scanners, the most popular is Google Goggles. Once scanned the codes we are producing are combine with a "go.wayne.edu" URL (more on that later) which take the user to the faculty member's profile. The plan down the road is to direct the user to a video or audio interview with the faculty member to give them even more of a reason to scan or type in the URL. It is our way of yet again extending the content beyond its original intent.