Concerto was developed as an alternative to a centralized digital signage system that placed the approval, control, and organization of content with the administrators of the system. Regulating the content for those centralized systems is seldom the forte of the groups who implement them, as they tend not to accommodate a large base of contributors and are designed to be run centrally with elaborate schedules, much like traditional broadcast media. Such systems tend to have a small base of centrally-distributed content that goes ignored. With its roots in a university student-driven idea of signage, Concerto is designed for those with no time to manage a centralized and complex system with few contributors.
Owners and screens and feeds, oh my
For access to the widest base of content, Concerto is network oriented, both technologically and socially. It recognizes that each screen has an organizational owner and displays content from feeds.
Those feeds can be Concerto feeds or external feeds (RSS, calendars, etc). Concerto feeds have their content submitted by users and approved by moderators. Then, each screen owner is free to subscribe to the feeds that they feel will add value to their screen and set the frequency with which that content will appear.
At each step of the way, management of the system can be delegated as much or as little as desired. Screen owners manage their own screen, or delegate it to a group. Those managing the screen can then choose feeds they feel will add value to their own content, knowing the content has already been vetted by moderators. User submission, feeds that draw from both internal and Internet sources, and decentralized moderation build a wide base of high quality content to add value to each individual screen with minimal management work for the screen owner.
In a nutshell, this is how Concerto breaks down management:
- Owners: Choose screen theme, on/off times, feed choice, and feed proportions
- Moderators: Approve/deny content submitted by users
- Users: Submit content for moderation to appropriate feeds