Four Toronto high schools have new digital screens in their halls thanks to a pilot project between the school board and Onestop Media Group.
The screens mainly display content produced by and for students, but will include some third-party messaging, though the school board balks at calling it advertising.
"There will be sponsorships," said trustee Chris Bolton, vice-chair of the Toronto District School Board. "This isn’t advertising. Advertising is jeans for $39.99. Sponsorship is the milk marketing board putting forward ideas around [kids] drinking more milk."
He said the board will be very selective about who can pay to get their message onto the screens, but the criteria are still evolving and the board will be making decisions on a case-by-case basis as the pilot unfolds. Colleges and universities would be acceptable, while marketers like McDonald’s, for example, would likely not pass the test.
In a release announcing the project, the TDSB said the goal is to "equip the schools with a modern communication platform to allow user-generated content–similar to what the students encounter growing up in the digital age."
The program represents a new way for schools to better engage with their students, said Bolton.
"We had students at the press conference [announcing the project] who are just over the moon," he said. "They’ll be able to publish their work, their ideas and their stories in a medium they are extremely comfortable with."
"This is a communications network for the schools," said Michael Girgis, CEO and president, Onestop Media Group. The community itself–students, their parents, administrators–will be giving feedback and defining how the network is used. School announcements can be delivered and reinforced, student councils could ask for voting on yearbook covers, or the Toronto Transit Commission could share information about public transportation, he said.
There is a "funding model," he said, but the advertising–Girgis also prefers "sponsorships"–must deliver the right message and the right content.
The program also got an endorsement from the Toronto Crime Stoppers. "The digital infrastructure that supports this network also allows authorities such as TDSB and Crime Stoppers to deliver messaging in a timely and relevant fashion," said Constable Scott Mills, community youth officer, Toronto Crime Stoppers, in the release.
