Regarding the three sections of planned paper:
Part 1
Assuming you have access to the IATA Documents the base line functions should not be a problem. After a quick Google I suggest first checking the relevant sections of the SITA and ARINC Sites (SITA often have a useful Whitepaper on offered services). Unless things have changed recently, sending a polite email using the contact information on these two sites should fill in any gaps on information on their offerings and answer any questions (after all if you get the degree you want, you may end up being employed by one them 🙂
Both these organizations will probably be offering additional functionality over the IATA base Specification.
The same Google query revealed that all the usual Airline oriented Suppliers of Kiosk and related technologies have all dived in to CUSS with enthusiasm. Again these should be approached directly for use of copyrighted images extra.
The difficult bit to obtain information on is History, firstly where to start:
Back with the first development of CUTE – Which introduced the concept of a shared LAN, although with some Airports that was effectively a MAN [Metropolitan Area Network] as well as the Multiple User Interfaces for different Airlines/Agencies on the Same Terminal Equipment.
OR
The Development of the first generation of Self Service Kiosks for use by Airlines/Airport Agencies and how these have become a feature of many of the major Airports.
Either way:
There has to be some mention of the Internet Services which provide pre-airport check-in and how they fit into the environment of SS and CUSS Kiosks
Part 2
IATA range of claimed benefits. Hmm at a technical level for a new build terminal, or even a from a refurbishment down to LAN Cable level, obvious way to go. For implementation in place the benefits are there, but the whole process will cause considerable angst at all levels of IT in the AIrlines/Agencies and AIrport exacerbated if any existing Self Service Kiosk deployed cannot be upgraded to CUSS.
From a Customer Service Viewpoint when SS Kiosks arrived the Airlines/Agencies realized that Passenger acceptance would be overall a gradual process. Certain types of passenger would at least give them a try, others would never go near them, but over time they like the Banking ATM would become totally accepted.
From a subjective viewpoint they partially right, but from observation across the globe as Self Loading Freight, acceptance is based on Culture, Nationality (where even countries having a similar culture don’t adopt change in the same way), Passenger Type and finally positioning of the Kiosks. I am not sure where you can get hard data on this aspect of the subject.
Part 3
A lot of early SS Kiosk implementations gave the technology a bad name because they exhibited nasty Software/Firmware faults once subjected to real world loads.
This actually had a negative and quite long term negative effect on Frequent Fliers at that Airport, who carried their misgivings about the technolgy to other Airports wwhere the Kiosks did not exhibit the same problems.
Also tenthije is right:
Shame that most people seem to check in their brains and common sense along with their luggage, but there is not system that can account for that.
Although it was put differently when I was being taught: ‘Assume a 50% IQ Drop when a person passes through the Terminal Entry Doors’.
This means that people who routinely use sophisticated complex Touchscreen Dealer Boards, Command Control Systems, or even non-Airport Kiosks can become frustrated with an Airport Kiosk and give up on it unless the User Interface really is Intuitive.
Also once they do learn it (and over time they will, especially when they see others using it successfully), even a slight change will cause them to get frustrated all over again. OK these are in the lifetime of the system a short phase for most frequent flyers, but for occasional passengers the adoption of the Kiosk approach will be patchy, even wehn those the same people and their children use simialr Kioks at Railway and Metro Stations on a regular basis.
I have started to ramble (even more than usual) and if the above is a case of ‘teaching you to suck eggs’ I apologise, but it was intended to be useful.
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