Of kiosks and prototypes ...

We are previewing a prototype of the interfaces for the history kiosk that will be along Euclid Avenue, sometime as early as October 2008. I love the interface, and watching it in action with real live people has been amazing. I just got back from observing and here are some observations, in no particular order.

• The Ingenuity audience is not typical of our eventual audience, which will include as a very large constituency, public transit riders.
• Most everyone noticed it, but not everyone interacted with the kiosk. Those that interacted did not spend a whole lot of time, and not everyone understood its functionality. People appeared more likely to notice and interact with the kiosk on two conditions: if someone else was using it or if the video was still looping and drew their attention.
• The prototype from EuroTouch Kiosks had a noisy fan, which dampened the quality of the experience of the users and was noticed by passers by.
• The screen interface was too small (not surprising, as we designed in a web not a kiosk) world. The images could be larger, and the sound could be made accessible with the images. The sound should be equalized.
• Not all users understood how it worked. The sound was most often overlooked.
• Users thought the kiosks should be richer.
• The longer a user stayed, the more they liked it--based on our own experience and some questions posed to passers by.
• Maybe the news section could contain ideastream podcasts, rather than streaming sound? Thanks to my friend Dave Kanzeg for that brainstorm. (Note that this would be easier to manage than a constantly live connection.) He observed that while regular sound might draw people to the kiosk, ongoing sound could repel--especially the regular transit audience. Nice observation; there might be a way to draw attention without annoying.
• What about podcasting more generally? And, is there a way to make that available on the street--at the theaters? ideastream? CSU? Clinic? University Circle? or even CVB? Again, thanks to Dave for getting that brainstorm going. Speaking of which, remind him about being a regular "irregular."
• More connections between sound/images are needed.

More thoughts in a second or third post as I reflect.