A new multimedia platform, displaying information from breaking news, campus alerts and even social media updates is being distributed campus-wide this fall, coming to a flatscreen near you.

MANE Feed is the new program being implemented by the College of Business and the Center of Professional Selling after receiving a grant of $100,000.

There are currently six screens in Keller Hall displaying MANE Feed.

UNA police Chief Bob Pastula said he put together a package for other schools on campus to get involved in this program after he was approached by several faculty members.

“There are plans to have screens displaying MANE Feed in every single building on campus,” he said. “This will help to promote campus safety and awareness.”

Assistant Professor of Marketing and Management Jerome Gafford said he has wanted to fulfill this vision for more than two and a half years.

“The content we are able to display is unlimited, within reason,” he said. “The general format of the outgoing information will be campus announcements, campus events and advertisements.”

Both Pastula and Gafford believe this program will enhance the foothold UNA already has in the digital world.

Gafford said the campus as a whole will benefit from this informational tool, particularly for campus safety reasons.

UNA student Ashley White thinks MANE Feed would best be displayed in the GUC where students congregate regularly.

“I think the best places to put the screens would be near food,” she said. “It would give us something to look at other than our phones or the back of someone’s head in line.”

The Center of Professional Selling will be updating the content regularly.

“The time, weather and date are all set within the program to update in real time, whereas news, Twitter and entertainment feeds will be updated anywhere from an hour to three hours,” he said.

Gafford said MANE Feed will be more effective than posters set up around campus.

“Times and dates of events can always change, and with the MANE Feed, that information can be updated instantly,” he said. “However, information on posters cannot be updated quickly.”

UNA sophomore Allison Stover said she is worried about how much this might add to her student fees.

“Not everyone uses the SRC or attends a spring concert, yet we still have to pay for that,” she said. “The MANE Feed seems like something I would actually utilize, but how much is it going to cost me?”

Gafford wants to assure students there will be no student fees involved. However, if a student would like to submit content either print or electronically to be displayed on MANE Feed, there may be a fee involved.

Gafford said there is potential these MANE Feed screens could be installed in UNA transportation buses.

“The great thing about this program is there are only two primary components to make it work,” he said. “You need access to the Internet and access to power. Since the MANE Feed players can run for 22 days off battery power after they lose Wi-Fi signal, each time the buses come in contact with a signal, that 22 days replenishes.”

For more information about MANE Feed, contact Gafford at (256) 765-5240 or email him at [email protected].