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Cities in Touch
The electronic kiosk industry is currently undergoing a rapidly expanding evolution in technology driven by the demand for new applications and services. A regional or nationwide network of kiosks comprises an information system that is distributed and heterogeneous. Thus, software systems become more and more complex and their evolution is difficult to manage. In our component model, the interface of the component is described by the way of points of interaction. These points are used to manage different types of interactions between components. The components and the interactions make up a new core model. From our core model, we can build an application model represented by a graph of interactions allowing the integration of the reused components. We finish with the implementation of the application model, thanks to the distributed adaptable software architecture.
In our various development roles at Cities In Touch, we have arrived at a collective consciousness in system development, even to the point of creating a peripheral needed for a system where an off the shelf component does not exist. Each contributor has the opportunity of stepping outside of one’s self, listening and observing from the outside, using the Eastern philosophy of ‘dissolving the ego’, which is the core experience in improvisational programming and development. While working within our group, each contributor can almost sense the intuition taking on some of the work normally ascribed to the intellect. With the passage of the first few lines of code, the conscious decisions of where to go next fall by the wayside, and this other, intuitive, improvisational process kicks in. It’s similar to an abstract-expressionist painter confronting the blank canvas, making the first mark, and then engaging in the creative process of making a painting.
Another and often overlooked aspect of successful product development that we continually strive to keep at center stage is the engagement of the client. If this is maintained as part of the creative process, becoming another element of the improvisation – the clients act as receptors, providing energy and a kind of telepathic feedback.
Current development efforts include:
• An independent security network based on an internet addressable wireless camera at each kiosk site. This will include the capability of independently monitoring the individual kiosks in a group from a desktop or laptop PC as well as personal digital assistants (PDA’s) and internet enabled cell phones. This will enable clients to remotely monitor any kiosk in their group whenever they wish, as well as set up multi-screen fixed monitoring stations. It will also enable CIT to better diagnose and troubleshoot anomalies at a particular kiosk when required.
• A newly designed hardware abstraction layer which will facilitate the recording and reporting of equipment errors and other events at individual kiosks.
• A network of LED’s, which will augment directing the user’s attention to the appropriate device as they perform different transactions at the kiosk.
• KioPackage - A software packaging system developed for initial setup, deployment, and updating of kiosk software residing on individual kiosk terminals. Creation and updating of package contents takes place on the Kioweb administration web site. Each agent/vendor has a private repository that contains each created package. When a package is to be installed on a particular kiosk, the agent/vendor simply attaches the package to the location on the administration web site. The kiosk will then download the package and install it automatically. KioPackage also checks back with the server intermittently to maintain the most recent version of the packages that are attached to the location. KioPackage can also handle most registry requirements for installing software, including registering libraries and OCX controls.
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