What’s the first thing you do when you are stood waiting to meet someone? Actually, what are you doing even when your friends are stood next to you?
Chances are your eyes are probably glued to your phone; maybe you are on Facebook doing some digital stalking, ogling someone’s recent trip on Instagram or pouting for a selfie. Well, things might be a little different in the town of Grenoble France, a city dotted with orange and black, rocket-looking cylinders because these machines spit out short stories.
The scheme is the result of a collaboration between the founders of publishing company, Short Édition, and the mayor of Grenoble, Eric Piolle.
The experimental move will see short-story dispensers placed around the town, and unlike vending machines which usually spit out not so good for us food and drinks, these dispensers produce good quality literature to people in the hope that they read them and enjoy a moment with their imagination. Short Édition has made over 600 short stories from their library available and people, depending on the length of time they have to read, can decide between a one, three, or a five-minute story which prints out on a small strip of paper resembling a till receipt.
Most importantly, though, the short story dispensers will be free to use – because you can’t put a price on education or imagination, but you can rack up a rather large cell-phone bill.
