kiosk

kiosk

Originally, in Islamic architecture, an open circular pavilion consisting of a roof supported by pillars. The word has been applied to a Turkish summer garden pavilion and a type of early Persian mosque. Today the term refers to any small urban booth that dispenses newspapers, information, or tickets.

---

kiosk

A small, self-standing structure such as a newsstand or ticket booth. The original kiosk had room inside for a person who handled the transactions; however, the term evolved to refer to unattended booths with computers that dispense information or make sales via a touch screen.

Other than simple soda or candy machines, almost any modern vending machine that accepts credit cards can be called a kiosk. For example, digital photo kiosks are today's counterpart to the earlier, manned kiosks for analog film developing. Accepting memory card or CD/DVD input, they allow users to select images and perform limited editing. The units can make prints on the spot as well as burn them onto a CD. See self-service application and touch screen.

The Photo Kiosk

Photo kiosks with touch screens have popped up in shopping malls and venues worldwide.

---

kiosk

1. A small pavilion, usually open, built in gardens and parks.

2. A similar structure, often enclosed, for the sale of merchandise such as newspapers or magazines.

---

kiosk - A stall set up in a public place where one can obtain information, e.g. tourist information. The information may be provided by a human or by a computer. In the latter case, the data may be stored locally (e.g. on CD-ROM) or accessed via a network using some kind of distributed information retreival system such as Gopher or World-Wide Web.