Newspaper Kiosks Nicholas Boos & Carolyn Holmes

Problems to Solve News websites are great for reading headlines but not so great for reading the entire newspaper. Only the local newspaper is available on time and inexpensively – consumers have to wait for days and pay heavy prices for newspapers from remote locations Resources are wasted printing enough papers to anticipate demand every day -- a lot of papers make it to the trash/recycling without ever being opened!

Our Solution Kiosks that can quickly and inexpensively print any newspaper from around the world at just the push of a button!

How it Works Current editions of newspapers are stored in a central database Kiosks are located at grocery stores, hotels, airports, or newspaper stands Through a touch-screen, the can easily select the local or most popular papers, or go through a quick search process to select whatever paper they desire The user pays with cash or card in ATM fashion The paper is printed quickly on newsprint and the user walks away with a complete newspaper in their hand within a few moments

Why It Works Newspaper companies save money on printing costs – they don’t have to spend a lot to print out extra papers Newspapers and their advertisers reach a greater audience – resulting in an ideal increase in revenue for both parties Consumers are able to save money since overhead reduction can be passed on as lower prices for remote papers

Facets of Implementation Business – flow of money, advertising, contracting Software – the system, database management Hardware – Kiosk construction, printer design Maintenance – keeping the kiosks running

Business Side Pitching to Newspapers – contracts needed to set up a payment system and guarantee service Finding host sites for the kiosks Advertising Accounting based on the database statistics

Software Side Attractive GUI including touch screens Database management Scripting for data extraction Page Formatting to comply with printing size restrictions

Hardware Side Kiosk Construction and placement Printer design – toner, size restrictions, etc. Paper management and loading system

Maintenance Side Kiosk Upkeep – restocking paper and toner supplies Database management

Class Implementation Attractive GUI – replacing touch screen with point and click interface Two-sided database: 1.Available Newspapers – externally visible 2.Statistical Data – internally visible Formatting to take any newspaper lay out and alter it to be printable according to size restrictions Perl/CGI to extract and manage statistical data

What Doesn’t Work… This idea would be hard to implement in the real world due to: -Dependence on external participation from newspapers -Large scale of implementation – many kiosks would need to be placed to even make an impact and we would need a lot of people placed near those kiosks to keep them stocked with paper -Developing a whole new hardware – newspapers usually print with GIANT printing presses, we need small ones