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Pervasive Displays – Understanding the Future of Digital Signage

Fueled by falling display hardware costs and rising demand, digital signage and pervasive displays are becoming ever more ubiquitous. Such systems have traditionally been used for advertising and information dissemination, with digital signage commonplace in shopping malls, airports and public spaces. While advertising and broadcasting announcements remain important applications, developments in sensing and interaction technologies are enabling entirely new classes of display applications that tailor content to the situation and audience of the display. As a result, signage systems are beginning to transition from simple broadcast systems to rich platforms for communication and interaction.

In this lecture, we provide an introduction to this emerging field for researchers and practitioners interested in creating state-of-the-art pervasive display systems. We begin by describing the history of pervasive display research, providing illustrations of key systems, from pioneering work on supporting collaboration to contemporary systems designed for personalized information delivery. We then consider what the near future might hold for display networks — describing a series of compelling applications that are being postulated for future display networks. Creating such systems raises a wide range of challenges and requires designers to make a series of important trade-offs. We dedicate four chapters to key aspects of pervasive display design: audience engagement, display interaction, system software, and system evaluation. These chapters provide an overview of current thinking in each area. Finally, we present a series of case studies of display systems and our concluding remarks.

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Pervasive Advertising

Following decades of exciting developments in laboratories around the world, pervasive computing technologies are starting to reshape our world in real ways. Computers, visible and invisible, are everywhere: traditional signs and billboards are being replaced by digital signage, projections, and interactive surfaces. Communication is digital and ubiquitous—the majority of the world’s population uses mobile phones. Physical computing and robotics make physical environments digital and interactive. It is apparent that analogous for developments on the Internet, advertising will be the business model driving pervasive computing. These new computing technologies are powerful tools for advertising and they will supersede traditional advertising in the near future. Pervasive computing is the disruptive technology for advertising. This book presents the core principles of Pervasive Advertising and makes accessible to practitioners and researchers alike research findings in pervasive computing, modern advertising, and human-computer interaction. The major opportunities addressed include: symmetric communication, the long tail, powerful experiences, personalization, context adaptivity, audience measurement, and automated persuasion. The major challenges addressed include: calm and engaging advertising, privacy, and ethical persuasion. This book presents and discusses innovative applications based on digital signage and mobile advertising, venturing into new territories like music and scents. This book is intended as a guide for: 

• Advertisers who want to understand how new technologies revolutionize their field.
• Pervasive computing engineers and researchers who want to understand what business models will drive their technologies in the real world.
• Anyone who is interested in how pervasive advertising will shape the future of urban life.