MessageNet

Howdy, I'm Leo, a polymath driven by curiosity and a fervent desire to unravel the wonders of the world.

I'm currently absorbed by an equestrian statue for the Duke of Milan, dissecting human anatomy, architecturally innovating, and painting… diverse pursuits and boundless curiosity. #Projects #RenaissanceMind

  • The Benefits of Way-finding are Finally Being Realized

    Have you ever noticed how practically nobody asks for directions anymore? And why should they? Directions or maps are literally at our fingertips these days. With smart phones, GPS, and online mapping software, I think most of us are now empowered to know how to get somewhere; I believe there’s also a certain mind-set that develops along with that. I think that people are now becoming so accustomed to this information being readily available that they never expect to get lost or be unable to find their way around.

    For example, on a recent trip out of town, I had to find a particular route to a specific place, only to be in the middle of a 3G dead-zone. So, with my maps app on my phone not working, I had to rely on my own intuition and sense of direction (which, pre-smartphone, was actually good) to find the highway. In retrospect, I realized that my entire way of thinking — my historical penchant for pre-planning a trip and visually memorizing all potential routes had nearly failed due to my neglect to regularly use it!
    Well, for better or worse, this paradigm will probably never change back and, most likely, it will evolve even further, like augmented reality (Project Glass, anyone?).

    So with this paradigm shift in mind, we’ve been developing a new feature for Connections which allows a MediaPort to display a map or floor-plan; on that, it will display egress routes in the form of a flashing line (straight or curved) with arrow. We’ve purposely left this feature as flexible as possible so that it can conceivably be used for nearly every type of situation. The really neat thing about this feature is that it’s location-aware — intelligent enough to know which LCD panel is being used, relative to a given floor-plan or map. Because of that, a single event can cause multiple LCD panels throughout a building or campus to each display their own locations (a map, literally with a “you are here” red X on it), with appropriate egress routes flashing, showing people where to go, specific to each location. It’s really something neat to see it working, in-person.

    I think it’s obvious what kind of added value that might have for an existing safety and security system; but what about everyday use? One example immediately comes to mind: hospitals. Many hospitals have not had the luxury to be designed wholly from the ground-up. Instead, they are typically older buildings that have been repeatedly expanded and renovated over the years; as a result, they are virtual labyrinths. Just think how easy it would be if there were a digital sign at each fork and turn in the hallways, giving you personalized directions (literally with arrows) to your destination within the hospital. It might make all the difference in that first visit to someone’s hospital room or even just to find that great cafeteria food!

    Well, we’re not quite there with that customized level of way-finding, yet — but we’re getting close. In the meantime though, Connections does currently support location-aware routing, which I think is a significant addition to Connection’s capabilities (and it’s fun to draw the routes, too).

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  • Make Power Point Presentations Compatible

    MessageNet Connections can be used to make media messages that can be posted to LCD screens. Media messages can contain videos, photos, Power Point presentations, or other types of media. Power Point presentations, while still easy to attach to a message, have a few more specifications to make them compatible.

    A good tip is to keep transitions between slides as simple as possible and test the presentation in the free program Open Office, which has similarly-supported features as a MediaPort. If a presentation doesn’t work properly on an LCD screen, chances are it’s because the transitions were too complex.

    The presentation also needs to be saved as a .ppt file rather than the .pptx file type associated with Microsoft 2007 and later, so you’ll need to save in compatibility mode. It needs to be saved in widescreen format (either 16:9 or 16:10). If the presentation is going to be displayed on more than one sign, it needs to be set up to loop continuously and to have timed transitions between slides. If it’s meant for only one LCD, then a PowerPoint control screen will pop up upon launch, allowing you to control the presentation manually. If the presentation has been saved with timed transitions, then those settings will override the manual control screen.

     

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  • Common Easily Avoidable Errors (part 3)- Accidental Restrictions

    The following tips are for current MessageNet users. If you aren’t a current user, feel free to keep reading to see the many ways MessageNet connections can work for you.

    MessageNet Connections has different security classes of users, ranging from Manager level to basic. This allows one or more people to act as administrators of the system while preventing those with less experience or skill from accessing higher level features, with the lowest level users restricted to only sending and receiving messages. It’s the users in the middle that have the ability to accidentally put restrictions on messages,  lists, or anything else they create.

    Most features of MessageNet Connections can be restricted to a certain class of user and above, and often the default is MGR, or manager. If someone with a security class lower than manager but high enough to create messages creates a group, list, or message, or adds a device and accidentally leaves the security restriction set to MGR, only those users would be able to even see, let alone access or edit the new message or list or device. Only a MGR-class user would be able to change the class restriction. This mistake is really easy to make, especially if the default restriction is generally set to manager. It’s one I’ve made myself when I was first learning how to use Connections. So, if you create a message or anything else and then cannot locate it, there’s a possibility it was accidentally restricted to a class of user higher than yours.

    The best way to deal with this problem is by double-checking that none of the restrictions are for a higher class of user before saving as new.

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  • What’s in a Message?

    Messages101There really is a lot more to a message than what one might typically think.

    The typical everyday messaging we think about might include basics like phone calls, SMS text messages and emails. The common denominators of channels such as these include just a few basic aspects: sender, recipient, message, and perhaps subjects and/or attachments.

    But what if, for example, you wanted to send a message to a team member about a task that needs to be done by 1pm? After 1pm, the message, as originally conceived, either becomes irrelevant or another totally different message needs to be sent. In this example, another aspect — say, expiration — comes into play.

    Now, as another example, what if you are sending a message to multiple people — some of which may have hearing or visual challenges? Obviously emails or phones, alone, may not get your message across to all of your recipients. So, let’s add another aspect: media type (e.g. flashing lights, beeps, or text-to-speech).

    Here’s a simple self-explanatory one, that no other solution has really seemed to address, but we all want: scheduled message sending! We even want to simply schedule a text-message on our phones from time to time, right? (at least, I know I do)

    Within Connections’ message definition editor, a message can be defined in all of these ways, and more. In fact, this one single screen arguably has the most options of any other screen in our product… and for good reason.

    I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg, here; but suffice it to say, truly effective messaging needs to consider many more things than we are used to thinking about.

    If you want to learn more, please take a look, particularly, at some of our case-study videos, in which existing customers explain the unique ways they use their Connections system, in real life.

    Our features page also provides some insightful examples.

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  • Importance of Multiple Communication Channels –
    Layered Communications

    Henryville, IN 2012 Tornado Damage

    When it comes to the safety of our data, we usually take advantage of redundant hard drives, and even redundant computers. With investments like that, it becomes apparent that other important things should utilize redundancy, as well. Even before our modern age, even burglar alarms have often offered redundancy. So why put all of your emergency communication eggs in one basket?

    What if you needed to disseminate a potentially life-saving message, only to have one or many of your usual channels not working, or not working fast enough. Often, cellular networks are overloaded (or sometimes damaged) during times of crises, making SMS text messaging and phone notifications unreliable.

    With the recent tornado that went through Henryville, Indiana (which is only a stone’s throw from my hometown), I’ve heard many stories of people not being able to get through the cellular networks. Volunteer firefighters had trouble coordinating their efforts, and families couldn’t even call out to let their relatives know if they were safe or not.

    In addition to this example, many other possible scenarios could be discussed in great depth, but I think it’s obvious that the more available communication channels you have, the better.

    The next issue, for those with redundant channels, is in how to manage and operate them in a coherent manner. Especially during emergencies, things just need to work – and without much thought or planning.

    The elegant thing about MessageNet Connections is that the system basically takes care of all of these concerns. It’s a one-stop-shop.

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  • Common Easily Avoidable Errors (part 2)- Messages That Never Expire

    The following tips are for current MessageNet Connections users. If you aren’t one yet, you can feel free to skip ahead to the next article or keep reading to find out the many ways MessageNet Connections can help you.

    Messages that don’t expire can cause all sorts of problems, from the mildly annoying at best to the potentially serious at worst. If a non-emergency message has no set expiration, it can be sent multiple times by users who don’t realise it’s already active or as part of a regular schedule, creating another copy of the message every time it’s sent, clogging up the archive so it’s next to impossible to tell where a problem occurred, who sent it, or when it was sent.  At the other end of the spectrum, an emergency message with no expiration can constantly warn students of a mugger on campus that was arrested hours ago, or a chemical spill that has long since been cleaned up.  The easiest way to avoid these problems is to make sure a message has an expiration time on it before it’s launched. This is ideal for non-emergency messages, which are more likely to be sent on a schedule. If it’s not possible to set the expiration for a message (sometimes it’s impossible to know how long a message, especially emergency messages, will be needed), knowing how to cancel messages is essential. There are two ways to do this. The first is to cancel the message from the inbox it was originally sent to. Most messages should be sent to ‘sender’ so it’s easier to access them once they’ve been launched. The second is to go to the ‘stop active messages’ screen, accessible from the ‘other screens’ tab, and cancel the messages from there. Any user can see their own messages here and a MGR level user can see all messages.

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  • Common Easily Avoidable Errors (part 1)- Save vs. Save as New

    The following tips are for current MessageNet users. If you aren’t a current user, feel free to keep reading to see the many ways MessageNet connections can work for you.

    A common mistake a lot of people make is confusing the ‘save’ and ‘save as new’ buttons. This can happen almost anywhere on the MessageNet system, but I’ll use message creation as an example, since that’s where it happens the most often.  Since the message editor uses an older message as a template, it makes the most sense to choose a message that has similar properties to the new one you want to create. This makes creating the message a lot faster and easier, but unfortunately opens the window for accidentally deleting the older message. A lot of users will accidentally click ‘save’ instead of ‘save as new’, which saves the new data over the old, then wonder what happened to the original message. Since this is a pretty easy mistake to make, the best way to avoid it is to click ‘save as new’ immediately after changing the message name, then clicking ‘save’ after any subsequent changes.

     

     

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  • PC Alerts- What They Are and What They’re Used For

    A PC Alert is a small computer program that can be downloaded from the MessageNet website. It’s meant only for receiving messages and it’s how messages are sent directly to computer screens. Unlike an e-mail, which might go unread or unnoticed for a while, a PC Alert message pops up on the computer screen in front of everything else, big and bright, so it’s instantly noticeable. It can be minimized, but not closed, until the message expires. PC Alerts are best used for mass communications. Every person with a PC Alert can receive the exact same message at the exact same time in an instantly noticeable format.

    PC Alerts can be downloaded on each computer directly from the MessageNet website. They can be downloaded to either a PC or a Mac and are easy to download on either operating system. They’re one of the easiest ways to contact lots of people at the same time, for any reason. MessageNet systems uses PC Alert to let everyone know when it’s lunch time. PC Alert can be used to send a private message from one person to another or to give mass notifications. They can be used for emergency alerts and have been used successfully in deaf schools, where traditional forms of emergency notifications aren’t practical.

    This is an example of PC Alert

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  • Unlike Most Communication Systems: MessageNet Connections

    There are a lot of different communication systems out there. So what makes MessageNet Connections special? MessageNet Connections can send messages to just about any device in just about any combination possible. You could send a message to one person’s e-mail address, the TV screen in the office across the hall, the speakers in the room next door, two cell phones, and ten people’s computer screens if you wanted to. In addition to the plethora of every day uses, it’s also a great emergency communication tool. Emergency messages get sent to all kinds of devices, so they’ll get through to everyone no matter what. If one device type fails, the message still gets through. The best part of MessageNet Connections? The combination of every day and emergency use. Most emergency alert systems are rarely used and when an emergency actually does come up, most people might not remember how to use it or only one person would be in charge of it. MessageNet Connections, however, is used every day and anyone user is able to send out an emergency alert if an emergency would actually occur.

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