Book review

Abstract

The information kiosks of the past were dedicated machines, huge, costly, and designed mainly for the purpose of information retrieval and expensive to update. Today’s information kiosk, however, uses a multimedia PC which is housed in a close-fitting casing. Placed in public areas or exhibitions, interactive kiosks are increasingly being used to disseminate, access, process and collect information and/or perform transaction (financial or non-financial). This paper examined the various types of information kiosks implementation in Singapore. A model in a form of a matrix is designed to map the various types of information kiosks. This matrix has 4 sectors with two dimensions, i.e. information dissemination (low versus high) and transaction (low versus high). Low information dissemination kiosk means that the information provided requires infrequent changes or updates and it has structured query, usually guided by screen buttons. High information dissemination kiosk requires frequent changes to the information provided to users and users can perform semi-structured query, usually via a keyboard. Low transactional capability kiosk performs no transaction at all or it just accepts money during the transaction, e.g. car park kiosk. High transaction capability kiosks on the other hand enable users to access and update on-line databases on top of their transaction which may require personal identification. The four sectors are categorized as Type 1, Type 2, Type 3 and Type 4 kiosk. Type 1 refers to Low transaction/Low information kiosk, Type 2 refers to High Transaction kiosk, Type 3 refers to Pure Information Dissemination kiosk and Type 4 refers to High Transaction/High Information kiosk. In order for organizations to understand how kiosk technology can be employed in their industries to achieve corporate goals, Cash and McFarlan’s two-dimensional table is adapted as a framework. This framework is useful because it allows the CEO to know exactly where the resources (IT expenditures) are allocated with the most growth potential. As a result, we adapted the framework for our analysis. Lastly, the paper discusses on a typical kiosk configuration and some guidelines are recommended for consideration during kiosks implementation. Future research areas on kiosks implementation are also highlighted in the concluding remarks.