There’s no doubt about it: Microsoft Surface-type computing interfaces are compelling. The idea of taking graphics and data and then moving them, bumping them, merging them — it’s a way of interacting with computers that we have only been able to picture in movies.

But so far, we’ve mostly seen lightweight applications of the medium. Brochureware (yawn). Interactive restaurant menus. Video, image and music file managment (not boring, but not life-changing either).

Late last year, Marley Gray, Microsoft’s point man on banking, had this to say about the potential role of Surface computing in financial services:

While Microsoft Surface isn’t currently deployed in any retail banking scenarios, we envision Surface as a platform that could potentially enable a shift in the way customers learn, service, and buy products in a retail banking environment. In addition, it can be used as a way for customers to browse product information by financial scenario or direct product comparisons as well as in private banker meetings for things like financial planning and account opening.

Is there a serious application for surface computing in the bank environment? The above video about virtual autopsies shows how gestural computing can let users manipulate complex and layered information. And isn’t that a good way to describe finances – complex and layered?

Whether it’s a consumer considering at different investment options or a business owner considering cash-flow scenarios, the structure of financial instruments and services can be mind-numbingly complex. Or boring. Either of which results in prospects not paying attention and not comprehending the full value of what the bank has to offer.

What if…bankers could conduct “what if” scenarios with customers by moving and sliding visuals, rather than pointing to data tables? Would financial planning be a more compelling offering if budgeting was an object-oriented exercise? Could bankers themselves benefit from seeing their accounts (and the risk therein) displayed more visually?

One of the guidelines Mike will cover in his book is what he calls the “5 As of digital content.” He has kindly allowed us to reprint them below:

Appropriate, Attractive, Affordable, Adaptable, Assembled

For digital signage content to be successful it must be appropriate. Customers should see relevant content on the screens — based on the right time, day, place, and location.

Content must be attractive. The brands that are participating want the content to look good, to be pleasing to the eye and ear. Customers have enough visual clutter in their lives.

Digital content should be appealing, not a distraction. Most retailers do not have the resources to create a network with both appropriate AND attractive content. Therefore it must also be affordable.

Retailers are not media companies. They sell products. A digital signage network cannot be a negative drag on their resources. The pressures of the first three A’s compel signage networks to ensure that the creative is adaptable. The content must be flexible enough to be used in a variety of ways and approaches while still being relevant. The only way to do this is by assembling content using technology. Retailers should look for technical solutions that can produce a wealth of sharp-looking, relevant content at a low cost. This is the future of digital signage content.

Did You Know 4.0

Take RFID. It’s certainly not a new technology by any stretch, but the practical application of RFID within the context of in-store digital media is still somewhat unproven, or at least far from mainstream. If we drill down even further to the banking vertical (the world John Ryan works it), it becomes even more challenging to imagine how RFID chips can be used to enhance the customer experience or further the dialogue between bankers and their customers. Sure, lots of visions about the “bank of the future” involve RFID, which identifies customers as they enter the branch, etc., etc. But that’s way off, for a host of reasons, including privacy issues and cost.

So, what can be done with RFID that doesn’t require millions of dollars, complete branch overhauls and (gasp) the involvement of IT?

In the spirit of our last post on DIY digital signage technology, I’d like to draw your attention to some strange RFID technology that I found on a gadget blog and that seems to be ripe for integration with digital signage.

Mir:ror is a personal RFID scanner that connects to any PC via USB. When used in conjunction with its accompanying software, Mir:ror is able to trigger different actions on it’s host PC, such as launching software or running macros. The Mir:ror costs around €50.

Violet, the company behind Mir:ror also sells colorful RFID tags (cost: €20 per dozen), which users can affix to any object, such as file folders, coffee mugs, etc. The tags themselves can be assigned attributes, so that once you’ve tagged an item (say, your car keys), you can drop it on the scanner and it reads the RFID tag and then prompts an action (e.g., email your loved ones that you’ve arrived home safely).

So, back to the question of using RFID in a digital signage context: it seems that a product like Mir:ror opens up all sorts of possibilities for letting users (customers or employees) interact with on-screen content. For instance:

• Sales staff with RFID tags on their badges could interrupt regular programming to launch guided sales content.
• Staff or customers could wave brochures or objects representing different products in order to launch specific content about that product.
• Sales staff, identified by their own RFID tags, could launch guided sales content that is tailored to the products that rep is licensed to sell.
• Customers could interact with content by waving different tagged items in front of the Mir:ror scanner. For example, in response to a survey question, such as “Where do you live?,” a customer could wave a card with the Union Jack printed on it to register their answer as England.

With this form of interactivity, it would be possible to turn any monitor into an interactive monitor (good news, if your budget doesn’t allow for touch screens). That is, if your digital signage platform allows for interactive content.

What’s more, by having users move objects to interact with the screen, we introduce a kinetic element to the UI — a dimension that is lacking in many interactive experiences.

What would you do with cheap RFID scanners and tags? Please let us know in the comments section!

You could also look at TacTable’s Smart Table. No idea if it retails for less or more than Microsoft’s product, but it has been around longer. In the demo video below, which shows how a Smart Table was implemented at Sprint’s Kansas City, Mo., store, you can see that the interactivity is as sophisticated and elegant as anything that’s been done in the Surface realm, if not more so. Besides using one’s fingers to interact with the surface, one can place coasters (called “fiducials”) on the table and then use them as controls. Each fiducial can have its own properties and behaviors. A fiducial that looks like a TV-set dial can actually be turned to change channels on the TV set being shown.

This kind of interactivity opens up all kinds of possibilities. It’s no surprise that a number of TacTable’s installs have been in museums. The richness of the UI demands an equal richness of supporting content — and an environment where visitors have the time and motivaton to explore. But, no doubt over time we’ll start to see multi-touch experiences incorporated into more and more task-intensive retail environments

We’re definitely in a moment of transition. A moment where an old media system is dying and a new media system is being born. An era when spectatorial culture is giving way to a participatory culture.

So begins this video thoughtpiece by Henry Jenkins, director of MIT’s Comparative Media Studies Program:

Although Jenkins describes the political and educational implications of this media shift, the thrust of his message should not be lost upon us marketers. If you develop content for digital signage, you need to realize that the rules are changing. Visual language is changing. What people find interesting and credible is also changing. And quite possibly, peoples’ desire to influence and affect the content they see in malls, train stations and banks is going to change as well.

Questions abound:

• As participatory culture continues to grow online (and in the increasingly interrelated realm of mobile), how will it begin affect the content we produce for our clients?
• How will user-generated content become part of — or even drive — commercial content?
• How will our content-creation tools need to change?
• How does this fit with the trend toward individualized (i.e., Minority Report) digital signage content?

Please tell us your thoughts! This could be a whole conference unto itself (or at least a meaty panel discussion).