Mall Tech

On a short daytrip to Johor Bahru with my wife, some things caught my eyes. 

When we were buying movie tickets, the supervisor at the counter pointed us towards the self-service kiosks. Basically, 4 or 5 potential staff had been replaced by those 6 kiosks. The supervisor watched the kiosks from afar possibly only moving there if consumers struggled to settle their purchase. Right beside me was an elderly uncle who looked lost the moment he reached the kiosk. That is until my wife and I offered to help. 

This is the unfortunate reality. There will always be people lagging behind. Perhaps the cinema operators could consider having 1 or 2 roving staff nearby to assist in cases such as this if not they may lose customers. It is therefore important that measures are taken to ensure that when making bold moves in the adoption of latest technology, no one is left behind helpless. 

The other thing that piqued my interest was the trick eye museum right beside the cinema theatres which supposedly was the first in the world to have integrated Augmented Reality (AR) into its exhibitions. I liked the idea and can imagine the use of such technology in schools for similar purposes.

Last but not least, there's also my stay at Doubletree Hotel by Hilton. The hotel encouraged the use of an app for their members called Hilton Honours. It was quite integrated and easy to use and I commend their use of technology in this aspect. I'd love to see how else organisations in the travel and tourism industry continue to innovate with the use of tech and I believe we educators can learn a thing or two from them too.