Talk:Smart Technologies

Latest comment: 5 years ago by Sphilbrick in topic Title and article case

Integration edit

don't do it Oakpack4 (talk) 20:06, 28 July 2009 (UTC) NO Do itReply

I would have thought that SMART Interactive whiteboards would be a natural subheading in the SMART technologies section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Teachertechtim (talkcontribs) 14:15, 9 October 2009 (UTC)Reply

I oppose the proposal; this article is notable enough to stand alone. It just needs tons of work. Closing this proposal as 2 oppose, 1 comment, 0 support. Airplaneman talk 20:22, 10 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Advertising content edit

I would like it clarified how this entry is written as an advertisement. The language has been edited and is not a copy of the SMART website copy (which will also be addressed in a separate post) to remove marketing jargon and stick solely to the facts of what each product does, rather than the subjective 'how it can be utilized in the classroom/office'. The Wikipedia entry has been extensively re-written in a concentrated attempt to remove marketing/advertising language and content. If anything as been missed, please bring it to my attention. As a writer at SMART Technologies, I have been asked to provide an un-biased, factual overview of the company. With help from third-party reviewers, I know this to be possible. If clarification cannot be given regarding what makes the content appear to be 'blatant advertising', I would request that this flag be withdrawn. SmeeMcKy (talk) 22:12, 11 May 2010 (UTC)Reply

WP:COI issues aside, I agree with SmeeMcKy in that I do not believe that this article currently appears to be an ad. If nobody objects, I plan to remove the tag in about a week. If there are specific objections, though, I am very happy to work toward fixing the objections. SmeeMcKy, the other tag indicates that the article lacks reliable third-party references. I would welcome from you any such references; references that specifically talk about SMART, that cite information contained in the article, but which are independent of SMART. --Yamla (talk) 15:06, 12 May 2010 (UTC)Reply

Yamla, is it possible to have the advertising tag removed from the SMART Tech entry? Thanks again, SmeeMcKy (talk) 22:10, 1 June 2010 (UTC)Reply

Re: Copyright problem: SMART Technologies edit

I would like to address the charge that the content formerly found in the SMART Technologies Wikipedia entry constitutes copyright infringement. I am a communications writer at SMART Technologies tasked with the upkeep of an unbiased, factual and informative entry on both SMART Technologies and its products. The entry was extensively re-written and edtited in an attempt to both remove bias and the illusion of advertisement, and to maintain an accurate account of company and product information. The charge, as I understand it, is that "This article appears to be a copy from http://www.smarttech.com/, and therefore a copyright violation". In order to ensure accuracy of product description and messaging, the information was drawn from that which is available from http://www.smarttech.com. However, as previously indicated, the copy was thoroughly re-written to remove bias and jargon. I would draw attention to the Apple Inc. entry which lists product descriptions and company information that is likewise available on the Apple website. In order to ensure accuracy, product names and certain elements of product descriptions must remain the same as is found on the SMART Technologies website. I will contact permissions-en (at) wikimedia (dot) org as suggested to confirm that I have been given permission to duplicate product information on Wikipedia.SmeeMcKy (talk) 22:21, 11 May 2010 (UTC)Reply

Thank you. As per WP:COI, please refrain from editing the main article. You are free to submit suggestions on the talk page, including complete sections which, if other editors approve, may be copied directly into the article itself. If you see content on other articles, such as the Apple article, that are lifted directly from the web site, you definitely should either remove the content or make a note of the violation on the article's discussion page so someone else can remove it or replace it, as appropriate. --Yamla (talk) 14:55, 12 May 2010 (UTC)Reply
Note that, of your last set of edits, I am only removing the 'further reading' section, as per WP:EL. Your other edits were to add references, definitely a good thing albeit one that perhaps should happen through the discussion page given your conflict of interest. I want to be clear that nobody is doubting your good intentions, just that a company employee, particularly one who is a communications writer, is simply the wrong person to be adding content to an encyclopedia that must remain neutral. --Yamla (talk) 14:58, 12 May 2010 (UTC)Reply

The 'further reading', added by SmeeMcKy and removed by me, is visible at [6] in case an employee with no ties to SMART Technologies wants to look it over and consider adding back some (though obviously not all) of the links, keeping in mind WP:COI, WP:EL, and WP:SPAM. --Yamla (talk) 15:01, 12 May 2010 (UTC)Reply

Conflict of Interest edit

Thanks Yamla, being rather new to editing Wikipeida (though no stranger to reading) I'm still finding my way through the litany of rules and guidelines. It was never my intention to present POV information and would be happy to submit information via the Talk Page. My hope was to simply keep company and product information accurate.

However, if I may, the following was posted on the Talk:SMART Board interactive whiteboard by a previous SMART employee:

Can a SMART employee edit this?
I am an employee of SMART Technologies and a newcomer to Wikipedia. I have been asked to rewrite this article to make it more complete and up to date. I have done so, and my revision adds information about the product's history and technology. I have removed subjective adjectives such as "useful" and "helpful", and I believe my version is more neutral than the present article (not written or endorsed by SMART). That said, I have a couple of questions:

1. Can I, as a SMART employee, edit this article without being accused of COI?
2. Would it be considered unethical or impolite to replace the existing article with my rewritten version?

I would appreciate any advice.

Reply:
I would say that it is fine, as long as it is truly neutral. I worked for a very small non-profit organization over the summer, and part of my job was to update the Wikipedia page. Not only does it make an article more complete, but who knows more about a company/product more than it's employees! Veronicac-f 20:37, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

I suggest you see Conflict of interest anyway. Kushal 02:29, 15 March 2008 (UTC) and WP:IAR Kushal 02:30, 15 March 2008 (UTC) :P

As per WP:IAR, can I not make changes to ensure accuracy? SmeeMcKy (talk) 17:26, 12 May 2010 (UTC)Reply

Veronicac-f was mistaken. However, you are indeed welcome to make changes to ensure accuracy, so long as you limit yourself. It would be entirely appropriate for you to correct simple vandalism, for example. If someone says SMART Technologies is headquartered in 'a basement in Edmonton', you are more than welcome to correct it. If someone says there are 1386 employees but you know there are 1105 employees, you are welcome to correct that, and we would particularly appreciate edits that are appropriately cited, see WP:CITE. However, it would be inappropriate for you to add a section on how awesome the smart boards are, for example. Indeed, pretty much any non-trivial edit would be inappropriate as per WP:COI. Once again, though, you are quite welcome to suggest specific edits here, and you may find that some or most of these are then just dropped in, unedited, into the page itself. It just gives other, entirely neutral, editors a chance to ensure that the article remains neutral. --Yamla (talk) 18:01, 12 May 2010 (UTC)Reply

You're very on top of this - thank you for all of your help. I'm perfectly happy to fact check and maintain as much distance and neutrality in the overall process as possible. SmeeMcKy (talk) 19:03, 12 May 2010 (UTC)Reply

Proposed rewrite on Temporary SMART Technologies entry edit

Hello, As requested, the SMART Technologies entry has been re-written and posted on the designated temporary entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_Technologies/Temp). Can the temporary entry be reviewed for accuracy, neutrality and confirm that it does not infringe on copyrighted material found on the SMART Technologies website? If so, I would ask that the new information be posted to the SMART Technologies entry. Thank you! SmeeMcKy (talk) 22:07, 1 June 2010 (UTC)Reply

References edit

Looking at the SMART Technologies entry, 10 of the current 21 references are third-party resources. The further reading section,

SmeeMcKy, the other tag indicates that the article lacks reliable third-party references. I would welcome from you any such references; references that specifically talk about SMART, that cite information contained in the article, but which are independent of SMART. --Yamla (talk) 15:06, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

I would like to ask that the list of 'further reading' (removed May 12 and found here be considered for reposting on the SMART Tech entry.

Thanks! SmeeMcKy (talk) 22:26, 1 June 2010 (UTC)Reply

Spelling needs to be fixed edit

The company is SMART not Smart per spelling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:MOSCAPS). I made the changes twice.

However, user http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:DAJF keeps reverting this to Smart Technologies instead of the proper capitalization and miss quoting the section http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:MOSCAPS which actually states.

"Wikipedia avoids unnecessary capitalization. Most capitalization is for proper names, acronyms, and initialisms"

Can someone with higher access please correct this as he just keeps resetting changes and leaving threatening messages on my talk page.

This item falls under proper name as a name of an entity, specifically legal entity and company name or name of a corporation as outlined.

"A proper noun or proper name is a noun representing a unique entity (such as London, Jupiter, John Hunter, or Toyota), as distinguished from a common noun, which describes a class of entities (such as city, planet, person or corporation)"

72.2.16.10 (talk) 14:32, 22 June 2011 (UTC)Reply

Please read the guidelines at WP:ALLCAPS and WP:MOSTM again. They quite clearly state that we use standard English capitalization rules and avoid all-caps except for acronyms. --DAJF (talk) 15:11, 22 June 2011 (UTC)Reply

Controversy and Lawsuits edit

I've added the following information. However I wouldn't be surprised if an employee requests a revert of the page or if the changes are reverted - so I wanted to put a copy here in case someone can do better with it. With Smart in and out of the news lately and a lot of controversy over the IPO - I think its important that we document this about the company.

Smart started off well with a very high IPO at just over 17$ per share, and has steadily dropped to around 7$ per share[1]. Following the IPO several class action lawsuits have been filed against Smart Technologies including a lawsuit from Izard Nobel LLP[2] and the Shareholders Foundation [3]. The lawsuits allege that Smart was selling stocks to senior management for pennies on the dollar and that the company did not disclose important information prior to the IPO. This is in contrast to Smart's history prior to the IPO where Smart was typically the aggressor such as its lawsuit against NextWindow[4] prior to purchasing them outright[5].70.72.18.176 (talk) 19:44, 24 September 2011 (UTC)Reply

References

Products edit

With this edit, the following has been removed. This is because such an extensive listing gives undue weight to the products.

Hardware edit

  • Smart Board interactive whiteboard
    • Smart Board 800 series interactive whiteboard is an interactive whiteboard that supports multitouch and multiuser functions. The 800 series is available as a standalone interactive whiteboard or as a system that includes an integrated projector
      • Smart Board 880 interactive whiteboard
      • Smart Board 885 interactive whiteboard
      • Smart Board 880i interactive whiteboard system
      • Smart Board 885ix interactive whiteboard system
    • Smart Board 600 series interactive whiteboard is an interactive whiteboard that supports single-touch and single-user. The 600 series is available as a standalone interactive whiteboard or as a system that includes an integrated projector
      • Smart Board 640 interactive whiteboard
      • Smart Board 660 interactive whiteboard
      • Smart Board 680 interactive whiteboard
      • Smart Board 685 interactive whiteboard
      • Smart Board 690 interactive whiteboard
      • Smart Board 600i interactive whiteboard system
      • Smart Board 660i4 interactive whiteboard system
      • Smart Board 680i4 interactive whiteboard system
      • Smart Board 685i5 interactive whiteboard system
      • Smart Board 660i5 interactive whiteboard system
      • Smart Board 680i5 interactive whiteboard system
      • Smart Board 685i5 interactive whiteboard system
      • Smart Board 690i5 interactive whiteboard system
      • Smart Board 685ix interactive whiteboard system
    • Smart Board 400 series interactive whiteboard is a lower-cost interactive whiteboard only available in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Mexico and parts of North America. The 400 series is available as a standalone interactive whiteboard or as a system that includes an integrated projector
      • Smart Board 480 interactive whiteboard
      • Smart Board 480iv interactive whiteboard system
  • Smart Board interactive display
    • Smart Board 8070i interactive display
    • Smart Board interactive display overlay
  • Smart Podium interactive pen display
    • Smart Podium 500 series interactive display
      • Smart Podium SP 524 interactive display
      • Smart Podium SP 518 interactive display
  • Smart Response interactive response system
    • Smart Response PE interactive response system is designed for most K-12 classrooms. It includes wireless remotes that let students answer six question types: true/false, yes/no, multiple choice, multiple answer, numeric response and text response
    • Smart Response LE interactive response system is designed for early learners and uses colors and symbols to help pre-literate and literate students select their answers
    • Smart Response XE interactive response system is designed for high school math and sciences classrooms and allows students to enter mathematic expressions and scientific functions
  • Smart Table interactive learning center supports up to 40 simultaneously touches and is designed for use in early education classrooms
  • Smart Document Camera allows teachers and students to broadcast and magnify images on the Smart Board interactive whiteboard. Using Smart Notebook software version 10.7 and Smart Mixed Reality Tools, users can also broadcast and manipulate 3D images and other content on the Smart Board interactive whiteboard using a digital marker
  • Smart Slate wireless slate allows users to wirelessly control their Smart Board interactive whiteboard or Smart Board interactive display from up to 32' away
  • Smart Audio classroom amplification system includes a teacher microphone, audio transmitter and ceiling-mounted speakers
  • Accessories
    • Floor stands and wall mounts
      • Smart Mobile floor stand
      • Smart Mobile, Height-Adjustable Floor Stand
      • Smart Mobile Stand for interactive displays
      • Smart Height-Adjustable Wall Mount
    • Speakers
      • USB speakers - for Smart Board interactive whiteboards
      • USB speakers - for Smart Board interactive whiteboard systems
    • Connectors and extenders
      • USB extender increases the reach of USB cables
      • CAT 5 USB extender - for the 800 series increases the distance between the Smart Board interactive whiteboard and a USB connection by up to 50'
      • CAT 5 USB extender - for the 600 series increases the distance between the Smart Board interactive whiteboard and a USB connection by up to 120'
      • Wireless connection - for the 800 series
      • Wireless Bluetooth connection - for the 600 series
      • Smart GoWire auto-launch cable connects a laptop to a Smart Board interactive whiteboard or interactive display to automatically launch Smart Meeting Pro software

Software edit

  • Smart Classroom Suite is a bundle of four Smart software titles – Smart Notebook software, Smart Notebook SE (Student Edition) software, Smart Sync and Smart Response CE software
  • Smart Notebook SE software is the student version of Smart Notebook for students to take notes and organize digital information. The program runs on student desktops, laptops, ultra-mobile PCs, PDAs and tablets and is also available on a USB bracelet
  • Smart Notebook Math Tools is an add-on to Smart Notebook software and includes virtual math tools, including a ruler, compass and protractor
  • Smart Sync classroom management software (formerly SynchronEyes) allows teachers to monitor what each student is doing on a student computer
  • Smart Response interactive response system includes software and hardware components. Teachers create and push-out questions to students who answer yes/no, true/false, multiple choice and short answer questions from their wireless remote - or clicker
  • Smart Response CE interactive response system allows students to answer Smart Response questions via their laptop or mobile device, rather than a remote/clicker
  • Smart Response VE interactive response system lets students use most Internet-enabled mobile devices, including a BlackBerry, iPod Touch or iPad, instead of a remote, to connect to assessments and answer questions
  • Smart Ideas concept-mapping software is a multi-level concept mapping software
  • Smart Bridgit conferencing software is a data conferencing software that connects multiple parties across distances and allows users to share their desktop/laptop or interactive whiteboard screen with all participants. Smart Bridgit includes VoIP, webcam capability and digital ink
  • Smart Meeting Pro software is a collaborative meeting software that connects two or more desktops/laptops or interactive whiteboards in the same meeting room, or across distances when using Smart Bridgit. Users write over soft copy documents using digital ink and pass the document to the next interactive whiteboard or laptop
  • Smart Vantage technology-management software enables technology administrators to remotely access all Smart Board interactive whiteboards and Smart projectors in a classroom, school or district to do things like retrieve reports on how often they're used, or to turn off and on
  • LinQ Software allows a laptop to connect wirelessly to a Smart Board and broadcast their laptop/desktop screen on the interactive whiteboard

-- Trevj (talk) 14:23, 15 November 2011 (UTC)Reply

edit

The company logo on the SMART page is out of date. Can anyone suggest the best way to update the infobox with SMART's current logo? The SMART logo was updated in 2012, so the one on the page is quite outdated.

I'm a new Wikipedia user, and an employee at SMART Technologies. I work in the brand marketing department.

The accurate logo is the one shown at [1]

Wikipedia is auto-blocking me from uploading the source file of the current logo, as it's flagging for potential copyright infringement. I don't want to violate any policies around editing of a page by its subject, but am happy to collaborate in any way.

If anyone could let me know what's the best way to proceed, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks very much in advance. --Scrichar (talk) 17:34, 6 July 2017 (UTC)Reply

The old logo was listed as public domain. That is, it was not a copyrighted image. In your position as an employee of SMART Technologies, is it in your power to place the new logo somewhere on your website and indicate that the new logo is also released to the public domain and not protected by copyright? Note that copyright and trademark are two different things; we are fine with the logo being a protected trademark. Also, a sincere thank you for noting your conflict-of-interest here. It's (honestly) great to see marketing people respecting this important policy. --Yamla (talk) 17:45, 6 July 2017 (UTC)Reply
I updated the logo per ticket:2018080310007323 --S Philbrick(Talk) 19:45, 3 August 2018 (UTC)Reply

Title and article case edit

In addition to the logo request ticket:2018080310007323, I also fielded a request to change the title from Smart to SMART. I declined citing WP:TITLEFORMAT. I suggested they could request to move if they disagreed with my conclusion but they note their IP has been blocked for a year, so they are unable to make that request.

They also requested a change in the opening sentence, presumably from: Smart Technologies Corporation to: SMART Technologies Corporation

I don't have the energy to track down our guideline covering the query — I hope someone else knows the answer and can either implement or explain why it should not be implemented.--S Philbrick(Talk) 19:46, 3 August 2018 (UTC)Reply

It should not be implemented; see MOS:TM. --Yamla (talk) 20:00, 3 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
Thanks--S Philbrick(Talk) 20:23, 3 August 2018 (UTC)Reply