New kiosks put event info at your fingertips

Are you looking for something to do today? So are thousands of Temple students, faculty and staff members.

Take heart, though; your search just got easier thanks to electronic informational kiosks that have been strategically placed throughout campus.

“We kept hearing students say there’s nothing to do on campus, but we know that’s not true,” said Student Affairs Vice President Valaida Walker.

“For example, I would walk past one of those round kiosks on campus heading to a meeting and it would be filled with posters,” she continued. “An hour later, I’d walk past the same kiosk and it would be covered with all new posters.

To combat that thinking, the Today @ Temple kiosks detailing the events for the day, week or month—both academic and recreational—are now available in the Tuttleman Learning Center, Independence Blue Cross Recreation Center, Student Center and Bright Hall at Ambler.

Everything from sporting events to art shows to musical recitals to academic calendars will be listed on the cherry colored kiosks, according to Walker.

“Students can now get a complete list of the arts, cinema, athletics and academic calendar at one location,” said Walker, who lobbied for the kiosk funding for several years. “Or, you can search by icon and find specific information about any of those areas right away.”

Speed is of the essence for the kiosks, which should enable students to find events within five minutes. The kiosks, however, do not electronically link with the respective departments sponsoring the events. Instead, students can go to a computer center or their own computers to get more information about a specific event, Walker said.

Entries for the kiosks will be compiled from a variety of sources and departments, but the bulk of the information will come from the student activities office. All events must be cleared through that office for inclusion on the list.

The kiosks, which were made by Visual Communications, Inc., in Holmes, Pennsylvania, are unique because Temple purchased them and advertising is prohibited. There are a few private companies that could have provided the kiosks, but they would have been filled with advertising.

Walker said several departments were instrumental in pulling this project together, including student services, computer services and Temple’s telecommunications department, to name a few.

Depending upon usage of the kiosks, Walker would like to see many more of them pop up around campus.

“Hopefully, we can put kiosks in all of the student residence halls,” Walker said. “It would be good to have students wander down to the lobby of the residence hall and be able to see what’s going on at Temple.”

If student reaction drives Walker’s efforts to increase the number of kiosks on campus, she’ll need to get one for every building. Several students, like senior art history major Emily Santamore, used the information booth in the IBC Recreation Center to find out about campus events one day last week.

“It’s easy to find movie times on this and I was interested in fitness schedules,” raved Santamore, who lives in Center City. “This is the first time I’ve used it, but I’ll probably hang out at Temple more now that I know what’s going on.

“Where else on campus can you find this type of information this easily?” she added. — Fred Maher