observation - in depth
I decided to study the self-checkout kiosk in the supermarket, because it was the most complex of all the interactions I observed. The kiosk is roughly 5 ft(l) x 3 ft(w) x 4 ft(h). The user would take his/her items and place it in an area before the scanner, and as he/she finishes scanning each item, place it in the bagging area next to it. The scanning was most time consuming part, as each time an item passes through the scanner, the user needed to verify that the item was registered. Users often needed to re-orient the item to scan it successfully, and sometimes a person would swipe the same item several times before it went through. After all the items are scanned, the user pays for the merchandise. If they used a credit card they would just need to swipe their card and sign, which was a very easy process. However, if they paid with cash, they would struggle with putting the bills in the feeder.
There was constant interaction between the kiosk and the user. The user had to operate the touch screen to indicate when the scanning of the merchandise began and ended. The kiosk was giving constant feed back on whether a transaction was successful or not - through a computer generated voice and by indicating the item on the touch screen.
There were several issues which made the machine difficult to use. There wasn't an area close to the register for the users to place their personal items, so they often put their handbags or wallets on the scanning area, which sometimes caused the machine to malfunction. Whether you have multiple persons or just one person operating the machine did not seem to make a difference, as the user would always have to scan merchandise one by one. This was the most time consuming part of the entire process, and was what most people usually got stuck on. Even though the staff used the kiosks more fluently, their advantage was more of a result of knowing how to orient the items so the scanner picks it up quickly. I think in order to make it a pain-free process for most, the scanning process would need to be redesigned.