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An Internet kiosk with a touchscreen in Vienna, Austria in 2007
An Interactive kiosk is a computer terminal that provides information access via electronic methods. Interactive kiosks sometimes resemble telephone booths, but can also be used while sitting on a bench or chair. Interactive kiosks are typically placed in high foot traffic settings such as hotel lobbies or airports.
Integration of technology allows kiosks to perform a wide range of functions. For example, kiosks may enable users to enter a public utility bill account number in order to perform an online transaction, or collect cash in exchange for merchandise. Customised components such as coin hoppers, bill acceptors, card readers and thermal printers enable kiosks to meet the owner\'s specialised needs.
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The first self-service, interactive kiosk was developed in 1977 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by a pre-med student, Murray Lappe. The content was created on the PLATO computer system, and accessible by plasma touch screen interface. The plasma display panel was invented at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Donald L. Bitzer. Lappe\'s kiosk, called THE PLATO HOTLINE allowed students and visitors to find movies, maps, directories, bus schedules, extracurricular activities, courses and email student organizations. When it first debuted in the U of Illinois Student Union in April 1977, more than 30,000 students, teachers and visitors stood in line during its first 6 weeks, to try their hand at a "personal computer" for the first time. [1]
The first successful network of interactive kiosk used for commercial purposes was a project developed by the shoe retailer Florsheim Shoe Co..[citation needed]
Today, interactive kiosks can be found in a multitude of environments and for many purposes including: self-checkout lanes, e-ticketing, information and wayfinding, and vending. The first touchscreen is shown by Elotouch at the 1982 World\'s Fair in Knoxville, TN. 1982 is also the first year that the word "Internet" is used. Factura (which was first kiosk company of any note) will be founded 4 years later. http://www.keefner.com
Craig Keefner, the original kiosk newsgroup moderator and kiosks.org founder keeps the most complete and up-to-date history of the kiosk located here.
The aesthetic and functional design of interactive kiosks is a key element that drives user adoption, overall up-time and affordability. There are many factors to consider when designing an interactive kiosk including:
• Aesthetic design: The design of the enclosure is often the driving factor in user adoption and brand recognition.
• Manufacturing volume: This will determine which manufacturing processes are appropriate to use (i.e. sheet-metal, thermoformed plastic etc.).
• Graphic messaging: Plays a key role in communicating with potential users.
• Maintenance and thermal design: Critical in order to maximize up-time (the time between failures or crashes).
• Component specification: Typical components include Touch-screen, P.C., pointing device, keyboard, bill acceptor, mag-stripe and/ or bar-code scanner, surge protector, UPS etc.
• Ergonomic and ADA compliance: Is important to ensure comfortable and easy user accessibility.
• Interface design: Designing for interactive kiosks typically requires larger buttons and simpler decision trees than designing for a web or computer based interactive. Catchy attract animations and short dwell times are important.
Several countries have already implemented nation-wide installation of kiosks for various purposes. One example of such large scale installations can be found in the United Kingdom, where thousands of special-purpose kiosks are now available to aid job-seekers in finding employment.[citation needed]
The United States Department of Homeland Security has created immigration kiosks where visitors register when they enter the United States. There are also Exit kiosks where visitors register when they leave the U.S.
Internally the U.S. government has institutions such as the Postal Service which utilize HR kiosks for their disconnected employees to update their training as well as monitor and maintain their benefits.
It is estimated that over 131,000 kiosk terminals exist in the U.S. alone.[citation needed]
Groups who use kiosks in their business environment include: Northwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways, GTAA, Future Shop, The Home Depot, and Wal-Mart.
The telekiosk can be considered the technical successor to the telephone booth, a publicly accessible set of devices that are used for communication. These can include email, fax, SMS, as well as standard telephone service.
Telekiosks gradually appeared around the United Kingdom in the first years of the 21st century. Some are situated in shopping centres and transport terminals, with the intention of providing detailed local information. Others are in public places, including motorway service areas and airports.
The International Telecommunications Union is promoting the use of the telekiosk in Africa and parts of Asia where local people do not have access to communications technology. In part this work addresses the "digital divide" between rich and poor nations. There are, however, great practical benefits. The scheme in Bhutan aims to provide an E-Post system, whereby messages are relayed by telephone, then delivered by hand to rural areas, easing the problems of transporting letters across the countryside. Health, agricultural and educational information is also available.
A banking kiosk can provide the ability for customers to perform transactions that may normally require a bank teller and may be more complex and longer to perform than desired at an ATM.CUES - Members Only
A kiosk that functions as a digital minilab allows users to insert a memory card to print photographs.
An Internet kiosk is a terminal that provides public Internet access. Internet kiosks sometimes resemble telephone booths, and are typically placed in settings such as hotel lobbies or airports for fast access to e-mail or web pages. Internet kiosks sometimes have a bill acceptor or a credit card swipe, and nearly always have a computer keyboard, a mouse (or a fixed trackball which is more robust), and a monitor.
Some Internet kiosks are based on a payment model similar to vending machines or Internet cafés, while others are free. A common arrangement with pay-for-use kiosks has the owner of the Internet kiosk enter into a partnership with the owner of its location, paying either a flat rate for rental of the floor space or a percentage of the monthly revenue generated by the machine.
Many amusement parks such Disney have unattended outdoor ticketing kiosks. Amtrak has automated self-service ticketing kiosks. Check-in Kiosks for auto rental companies such as Alamo and National have had national deployments.
Many movie theater chains have specialized ticket machines that provide information about the movies that are being shown now or in the future.
An excellent example of a vending kiosk is that of McDonald\'s Redbox kiosk.redbox
Another kiosk example is the self order kiosk called DOT from Acrelec.Acrelec This system is used widely across Europe by companies such as McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Quick and the Supermarket brand Auchan. The Acrelec Kiosk is designed to be used in a range of ways, such as order taking, information, advice and advertising. The Acrelec kiosk has a robust design for use indoors and outdoors and can be integrated with other equipment within the outlet such as the Customer Order Display (COD) and the Digital Menu Board. Acrelec
A visitor management and security kiosk can facilitate the visitor check in process at businesses, schools, and other controlled access environments. These systems can check against blacklists, run criminal background checks, and print access badges for visitors. School security concerns in the United States have led to an increase in these types of kiosks to screen and track visitors.
Many hospitals today utilize interactive kiosks to allow vistors to find doctor\'s offices, departments and patient rooms. This use of the kiosk alleviates some of the mundane tasks of the hospital staff and allows them to focus on the more important ones. Harris County Hospital District, Baptist Hospital of Miami, the Children\'s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Cayuga Medical Center are but a few medical centers utilizing interactive touch screen kiosks with a building directory and wayfinding solution.
Reliability is an important consideration, and as a result many specialised kiosk software applications have been developed for the industry. These applications interface with the bill acceptor and credit card swipe, meter time, prevent users from changing the configuration of software or downloading computer viruses and allow the kiosk owner to see revenue remotely.
The development and supply of the overall kiosk technology was historically led by five companies: Factura, Kiosk Information Systems, NeoProducts, Elotouch and 3M (formerly MicroTouch). The kiosk industry surpassed $1 billion in worldwide annual revenues in 2004.[citation needed]. The manufactured kiosk industry is comprised of several segments. Latest August 2007 report from Frost and Sullivan puts the current market share at 25% KIOSK (KIS), 25% NCR and 25% IBM and 25% "others" with NCR the leader. The numbers for NCR and IBM however also include POS and self-service terminals. F&S expects to break those numbers out in next years report.
POS-related "kiosks" are "lane busting" check-outs such as seen at large retailers. Fujitsu, NCR and IBM are the major players in that segment.
Simple touchscreen terminals or panel-pcs are another segment and enjoy most of their footprint in POS retail applications. IBM, NCR and Wincor Nixdorf are the players in that segment. This is major market for NCR Advantage (740x terminal) and the IBM Anyplace computer terminal.
Historically electronic kiosks though are standalone enclosures which accept user input, integrate many devices, include a software GUI application and remote monitoring and are deployed widely across all industry verticals. Kiosk Information Systems is the major hardware player in this segment. Netkey, Nanonation, St. Clair, Provisio and KioWare are examples of software providers.
Market segments for kiosk and self-service terminal manufacturers include photo kiosks (Kodak has largest installed base), government, airlines, internet, music, retail loyalty, HR and financial services (TIO is one example), just to name some.
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This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia
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