Week 5 Tutorial: When the Machine Says No

Case studies of airport kiosk error states, and what recourse (if any) they name

22 March 2027

Before the tutorial

Find a news report, forum post or your own experience of an airport self-check-in kiosk refusing someone or failing partway through.

In the tutorial

We work through several cases together, tracing exactly what the kiosk’s error message told the person to do, and who they had to find in the terminal to actually get unstuck.

Afterwards

Refusal and error-recovery paths are one of the clearest places an incentive shows itself — worth returning to for Assignment 2.

Who benefits when the design is bad?

The spec

What you bring to the tutorial. Written so a reader can tell whether it has been met without asking you.

  • you find a documented case of a self-check-in kiosk refusing a passenger
  • you identify what the kiosk's error state told the passenger to do next
  • you can say who has the authority the kiosk doesn't

Teaching team