Communicating using the desktop background

Computing site desktop displays offer an easy-to-manage way to communicate with students on a variety of topics from news to policies to University resources. For best effect, the messages should be as unobtrusive as possible and updated regularly to keep information from becoming stale. At the University of Delaware, we have implemented this in two ways: through the use of a scrolling set of topics on the desktop background and with the use of screen savers. In addition to contact information for the computing site director and other static links, which vary by location, the desktop background features a box with scrolling topics as live links. This display is shown as an item on the desktop background, so it is only visible when applications do not obscure it. Links open in a new browser window when clicked and point to web pages that provide more detailed content. The actual list of topics and the customizable background are located on a central web server and can be easily edited to change all desktops that point to them simultaneously. The engine that runs the scrolling sub-window is written in Macromedia Flash, so no special software is required. Topics include responsible computing, digital media rights, library resources, and news items like UDaily, the University's on-line news service. Screen savers are used in a similar manner to display messages to students in much the same way posters would.